High School Never Ends
by AllThingsAnime123
Summary: This started out as a simple SasoDei oneshot but it kinda changed into a multi-chap whole group fanfic xD I don't own the characters or the song used as the title. Please be nice with comments and no flames, thank you! Rated M for Hidan's swearing xP
1. Trouble Already

Chapter One - Trouble Already

~*~ DEIDARA'S POV ~*~

I step off the bus, almost tripping over my own feet in the process. I clutch the strap of my backpack tighter, as it's the only thing I can take comfort in. As I have no friends whatsoever, what else am I supposed to do? Without warning, someone shoves me from behind. I fall forwards, and very nearly trip again, only this time on the kerb. A girl with vividly pink hair dashes away from me, straight into the arms of a guy with the most ridiculous haircut I've ever seen. Sort of like he'd shoved something electrical up his backside and it made his hair stand on end. I roll my eyes, and run my fingers through the blond bangs that covered my left eye. My ponytail brushed against the base of my neck as I steadied my feet once again, tickling me. I noticed the black haired guy and his pink haired bitch muttering to one another and then pointing in my direction. I glare icily back, and both looked shocked. Clearly the new kid wasn't supposed to behave like this. Well, they'd better get used to it. I'd had enough of being the one everyone picked on. I wasn't having it anymore, especially not from some tosser and his little whore.

Still glaring at them, I walk down the concrete pathway that leads up to the school. The school itself is split up into three separate buildings. The two on the edge of the main building have sloping roofs, made of very shiny metal. The middle building was made of the same metal, but its roof was flat. Spikes line the edge. I notice the same spikes along the edge of the window sills too, and I can't help but wonder if the students hurled themselves out of them every so often. The windows are bleak and tinted so that I couldn't see into the classrooms beyond. The walls were made of red brick, but even these seemed dull and colourless. As I continued up the pathway, I passed by a bicycle shed, where a couple of girls with ridiculously short skirts were giggling. They stopped when they spotted me and stared. I ignored them as best as I could, and instead focused on the building behind the shed. It was made from the same bricks as the other three, but stood even taller than they did. I spotted netball and tennis courts spreading out from one side of the far left building, and a field beyond that. It must have been used for sports, I assumed. Aware that the girls were getting up, still looking at me, I quickly hurried off. I passed by other students, who all stared at me as I was an imposter trespassing on their grounds. I hated it, but I had to ignore them as best as I could. After all, I should be used to this by now, shouldn't I? I mean, it was always the same story. It was already halfway through the year. People had their friend groups, so why would they want me to be bugging them? Just like everywhere else, I would never fit in. I was just looking at the sign post outside the front of the main building looking for the reception when I saw them.

Two tall boys were leant against the wall of the main building, talking in hushed voices. The tallest one had slicked back grey hair. His eyes had a cruel glint, despite their being pink. I took one look at the boy's muscled arms protruding from his short sleeved t-shirt, and realised he was not one to be messed with. The bottoms of his black jeans covered his shoes, but I wouldn't mind betting he wore boots underneath. He had his arms folded across his chest. Around his neck was a metal chain, and I spotted an odd charm at the bottom. It was a metal circle, with an upside triangle in it. I gulped. I knew that symbol. This kid was a Jashinist, and that was anything but good news. Even though he was talking normally to the boy next to him, he was glaring, as if his eyes didn't know how to do anything else. The boy he was talking to was a lot shorter than he was; a little shorter than me. His raven coloured hair was tied back into a ponytail like my own, except his was lower down the back of his head, mine was at the top. He too was glaring up at the grey haired boy, and his eyes were _scarlet_. The shorter boy wore a Slipknot t-shirt which lay baggy on his thin frame, as well as matching black skinny jeans. I saw black Doc Martins boots on his feet, and I shuddered. These guys looked like they would be able to snap me in two with ease. I noticed that tied around both their bags were two identical bandanas. They were jet black in colour, with a series of red clouds outlined with a white line.

Suddenly, the black haired boy prodded the other's arm, and glared over at me. I felt fear and nausea sweep over me as the Jashinist kid turned to stare at me too. His eyes contained more malice than I had first thought, and my heart rate sped up sickeningly. They were gonna kill me for looking at them, I knew it. I blinked, but when I opened my eyes, they had vanished.

_'That was weird..'_ I thought to myself, eyebrows arching in confusion. Then I shrug my shoulders and look back to the signpost. I walked in the direction it indicated, and found that I had to go in front of the buildings, down some steps and around a corner. Finally, I arrived outside a set of sliding doors. I looked up when I spotted a gleam, and saw in large metal letters that had been fixed to the brickwork the word 'Reception'. With a quiet sigh, I stepped through the doors.

*

"Well, you've certainly moved around a bit.."

"Yeah."

I sit uncomfortably in the head teacher's office, trying to look anywhere but her face. When I had first been shown into her office by a smiling black haired woman, I had let myself think it wouldn't be too bad. But I was very much mistaken. As soon as I'd seen the head herself, a woman called Tsunade, my stomach dropped. She just seemed to radiate a bad energy that said 'Mess with me and die'. Her long blond hair was tied back into two separate bunches that stretched right down to her hips, and she was.. Well developed, to say the least. Her amber eyes had a flicker of kindness and understanding, but there was also a hint of danger. I couldn't help but feel intimidated just by sitting opposite her.

"Well, any idea of how long you would be staying in our school?"

I gulped. I honestly had no idea. Since my mom abandoned me with my dad, he'd had to take up a lot of jobs to support me through my schooling. Every time he'd gotten a new job, we'd had to move to a new place, giving me hardly any time to adjust.

"I don't know, miss.." I said honestly.

She nods.

"Very well. If you have any problems at all here, feel free to talk to me or any other teachers. Remember, they're here to help you, not hinder you. We want your time at this school to be an enjoyable experience, not a lifelong torment. We do _not_ tolerate bullying here, and any children caught or found out will be excluded. Immediately. So, if you come across any incidents, report them at once."

I didn't like the way she told me about that. It was almost as if she was expecting me to get bullied. This made me feel great. Instead of saying all of this however, I nodded and forced a smile on my face. She seemed to buy it though, because she smiled back before pushing two pieces of paper across the desk at me.

"That is a map and your timetable. Your father said in his application letter the subjects you had been doing at your previous school, and I am delighted to say that there were plenty of spaces available."

I nodded with another fake smile, and looked through the paper. The map was made up of four pages, each depicting the rooms and subjects taught in each building. I then shifted my gaze to the timetable. Today, I had double art with someone called Iruka. I quickly consulted the map, and found that I was only one floor up from where I sat in the office. With yet another nod at Tsunade, I picked up my bag from the floor and exited the room.

*

I burst into the classroom, out of breath as I'd run all the way from the reception. The stairs had been steep, and I'd tripped quite a few times. The teacher, Iruka, looked up from near the back of the room. He looked shocked, like the rest of the class, but the expression quickly softened into a smile. He ran a paint-splattered hand through the brown locks gathered on his shoulders, and his kind mahogany eyes made me feel a little more relaxed.

"Sorry sir.." I muttered.

"Deidara, right?" He says, his voice as kind as his eyes. "Not a problem, I remember my first day at a new school too. As we're halfway through a project right now, you'll have to join up with someone."

I looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be muttering behind their hands to the person next to them, and I knew each of them was saying how annoying it would be to get stuck with the new guy. Iruka was looking expectantly at me, clearly wondering why I hadn't moved, but I just couldn't. I didn't know who to go and sit next to. I was about to say so, when I heard quite clearly, the words spewing from the girl on the edge of the table nearest me. It was the pink haired whore who had almost knocked me down from the bus this morning. She said in a catty voice, loud enough for the whole class to hear, 'Look at his _clothes_. Who dresses like a tramp?'

The whole class erupted in laughter. I saw Iruka look flustered and try to calm them down, but his words weren't being heard by any of them. I felt my face go crimson, and my entire body began to tremble. My bag fell off my shoulder and fell to the floor. The zip flew open, and half of my belongings poured out onto the classroom floor. The laughing escalated, and my blush of humiliation turned scarlet. I dropped to my knees and started trying to stuff things back into my bag, but my hands were shaking so much out of anger and embarrassment that they just slipped out of my grasp again. This made the pink haired bitch burst into tears of mirth.

SLAM!

I jump out of my skin, and the entire class goes silent. I look up and see a boy sitting alone at a whole table almost opposite me, his curled fist lying on the table. His bottom lip curls into a snarl as he glares around at the whole classroom. He was shorter than me, I could tell that from where I was, but he radiated a feeling of intense power. Even the pink haired bitch looked scared. The boy had short red hair that seemed to be cut in jagged layers. His eyes were a red-ish brown, but there was a definite furious flame boiling within them. He wore a short sleeved red t-shirt, with a long sleeved black and white striped one underneath. These fell over his hands, but no-one made a comment about how child-like the look was. I saw, tied tightly around one of his wrists under his shirt, was a bandana identical to those on the bags of the boys from the start of the day. Very slowly, he got to his feet, the sounds of his bench scraping back on the floor painful to listen to. Then, still glaring at the class, he crossed the room to where I was kneeling on the floor. Without saying a word, he bent down, stuffed the rest of my belongings into the backpack, and stood.

"He'll work with me, sir." He said in a cold, angry voice.

"Y..Yes.. Okay.." Iruka stammered, still pretty shaken up.

Without warning, the boy grabbed the front of my shirt and hauled me to my feet. There was a lot more strength in those arms than I had first imagined. I stumbled on my way up, but no-one so much as sniggered. The boy led me back to his bench, then shoved me into the spare seat next to him. Soon, the class began working again, but nobody looked in our direction much. The boy picked up a screwdriver, and carried on with what he had been working on before coming to my rescue. It looked like a wooden puppet. The detail on it was incredible, even if it was only a torso and a head right now. It looked creepily _real_.

"Um.. Thanks.. Is there anything I can do to help..?" I ask timidly. The boy turned to glare at me, and I felt my insides go icy cold.

"Yeah. You can grow the fuck up and develop a fucking backbone, or you'll be dead within the week."

As soon as he had said his piece, he turned back to his work, ignoring my presence. I was shocked by what he had said, but I soon got over this. This was definitely the most violent of the schools I'd been sent to, and his words made sense if I truly thought about it. He was clearly someone everybody listened to, so I should take his advice too, even if it was pretty depressing.

So as not to antagonise him further, I sat back in my seat and watched him work.

*

About an hour later, a loud bell rang out in the room. I watched as everyone else in the classroom began to pack up, shoving pencils and tools into drawers around the room, carrying models and sculptures into a cupboard at the back of the room. The red haired boy beside me shoved me hard in the back with a hammer he'd been using. I jumped out of my skin, and he sighed as if dealing with a child.

"It's break time." He hisses.

I watch him as he storms away, putting the tools he'd used on the puppet in their appropriate places. He then came back without even looking at me, put the puppet on a shelf behind his desk, then grabbed his backpack from under the desk and stormed out of the room. I watched as the pink haired whore from across the room looked at me, but her friend's expression turned to one of fear and mumbled something in her ear. It must have been enough to freak her out though, because she shuddered and quickly left.

After the rest of the class had vanished, I picked up my backpack and took out the map. If it was break, I could try and find some secret little corner to curl up and hide in. I left the room and followed the throng of students to the grounds. I looked around in vain for the red haired boy, but he had completely disappeared. With a quiet sigh, I looked around. The grounds were a vast slab of concrete with little fenced of areas with a couple of bushes and trees in them. I saw at the far end of the area, near the sports hall, there was a stretch of grass area covered with trees, where many of the students were laying or sunbathing. I spotted a shadowy corner on the far end of this grassy area, and made for it.

Or I would have done, had an arm not materialised in front of my face, blocking my path.

I stared up into the face of the person blocking me. A tall boy stood before me, thick black hair hanging in greasy clumps around his shoulders. His eyes were yellow, and he had weird eye makeup on; a purple diagonal line exceeded from the far corner of each eye. His eyes were cruel and cold, and I saw no emotion other than hatred lingering within them. He has tall, and his face was thin and sunken. His skin was a horrible pale colour, and he looked ill. Or on drugs. I couldn't tell which. Probably both. Beside him was a much shorter boy, about my height, He had light grey hair, tied back into a short ponytail. His face was a lot fuller than the other's, but he still had that menacing look about him. His cold, dark eyes were covered by glasses that he had to keep slipping back onto the bridge of his nose.

"So.. I hear you got your butt saved by Sasori." The black haired guy drawled.

I don't reply. So.. His name was Sasori..

"Oi, can you speak?" The one with glasses snarls.

Yeah, but I'm not wasting my words on the likes of you. I glare.

"Ah, he can't speak but he can understand English." The first one laughs. The sound of his laughing was like nails scratching down a chalk board; it sent shivers down your spine.

My glare intensified.

"Or maybe he's scared of us, Orichimaru."

I snorted. The name was so funny and that he thought I was scared, I couldn't help it. It's a big mistake though. Both of them glare death daggers at me.

"You think you're tough, huh?" The Orichimaru guy spits.

"I think you should teach him a lesson."

"That, Kabuto, is a great suggestion."

The hand that had been previously been blocking my way curled into a tight first, and drew back in order to hit me. I tensed my arms, ready to fight back if I had to. That was the one thing my father had ever taught me; don't back down from a fight. He had taught me from a young age how to defend myself, but only when I truly had to. Sometimes, I wondered if that was another reason mom left. She never liked me fighting, and even when she begged me to stop, I didn't. But she didn't understand. I got teased a hell of a lot because of my hair, and I got mistaken for a girl more often than not, so I had to have something to confirm my masculinity. She didn't understand.

But I shouldn't have worried about fighting Orichimaru. Just before he could swing his fist, his arm was caught by Sasori, who had appeared beside him. He glared up at Orichimaru, who seemed to falter.

"Don't forget, Orichimaru, we can kick your fucking asses. Don't act all macho when you have no reason or right to do so."

~*~ SASORI'S POV ~*~

_Five minutes earlier_

"You're a child minder."

"Shut up Hidan."

"I'm just fucking _saying_."

"Well don't."

"But-"

"Just because I shut that little pink haired whore up, it doesn't mean I'm a child minder, okay Hidan?!" I yell, my temper snapping. The Jashinist grins.

"Baby sitter then?"

"SHUT UP HIDAN!!"

"No fucking way man! You stuck up for a fucking newbie!"

"So?! Just what the hell is wrong with that?"

"You should hear what people are saying, Sasori." Itachi says coolly.

I turn away from Hidan, thankful that I can get away from the boy's smug grin.

"What are people saying?"

"I heard Sai saying that you were head over heels for this newbie."

My temper flares again.

"NO FUCKING WAY!!!!"

Itachi holds up his hands as if to say 'Calm the hell down'. He glares up at me, his scarlet eyes glinting dangerously. Hidan appears behind him, still grinning.

"I didn't say it. Don't get so pissed off at me."

"Look, I do _not_ like this newbie. I just couldn't stand the way he looked so pathetic that I just lost it. Besides, it's always fun to slap Pinky in the face without having to actually touch her."

"I hear that." Kisame mumbles, walking up from behind Itachi.

Hidan suddenly moves out from behind Itachi and stares over my shoulder. His confused expression changes into a smirk, before he looks back at me.

"Take a look, 'Sori. Your latest bitch is already in shit."

I sigh, then turn. My eyes widen when I see Orichimaru and Kabuto making a beeline for the newbie, Deidara. I watch as they both talk to him, but after he doesn't respond, I start to think it's all going to be okay. Then I see Deidara laugh. If there's one thing Orichimaru can't stand, its people not taking his threats seriously. I roll my eyes and emit a low growl when he pulls his arm back, forming a fist. Without another moment's hesitation, I stormed over to where the situation was developing. Hidan being Hidan followed me. If anyone loves a blood bath, it's Hidan. And as he _hates_ both Kabuto and Orichimaru, he'd jump at the chance to fight them.

~*~ DEIDARA'S POV ~*~

"Give me one good reason to stop, Sasori." Orichimaru spat.

"Because your ego's bigger than your fighting skills, and unless you wanna get your ass kicked, you better get out of here now."

It's an order. Someone as small as Sasori is giving orders to someone as tall as Orichimaru. The creepy looking boy hesitates for a moment, then tugs his arm out of Sasori's hold. I think it's all going to be resolved with no fighting whatsoever, when Kabuto swings forward without warning and hits Sasori around the back of the head with a heavy looking text book. I took a step forward, ready to swing for him, when the Jashinist that I'd spotted this morning leaps out of nowhere, landing on Kabuto. I watch as Kabuto slams into the wall beside us, face first. The Jashinist pulls him back by the collar of his shirt, and punches him in the face. I hear the bone in his nose snap, before blood flows in a constant river down Kabuto's face.

Orichimaru then charges forward to try and hit me, but Sasori sticks out his leg, tripping the boy up. He lands face first at my feet. Sasori then kicks him again and again with the heel of thick looking boots, each blow earning a yelp of pain from Orichimaru.

After a few minutes of this, Sasori seems satisfied. He dusts himself down, then looks up at me. I gulp, and take several steps backwards. He looks murderously angry. He takes a few steps towards me, and opens his mouth to yell, I assume. But my attention is taken away from him at the last second. Orichimaru's face appears right over Sasori's shoulder, blood trickling from his nose from where he hit the floor. Without even hesitating, I bring my clenched fist flying past Sasori, hitting Orichimaru right in the jaw. He fell backwards, blood now pouring from his mouth. Sasori whirled around, and stared in shock down at the unconscious body at his feet. I look back at him, and manage a weak grin. His expression of shock fades, to be replaced with a grin back. That's when we hear it. The click of heels.

I look up from Sasori's face, and he turns, just in time to see Tsunade marching towards us, gripping the Jashinist's ear in a vice-like hold. Blood covers his face, but I can just tell it isn't his own. A huge grin spreads from one ear to the other, but Tsunade is doing anything but smile. Her eyes are steely, and she points with her spare hand in the direction of the main building.

"My office. Go. Now."

*

"Sasori.. I expected so much better of you.." Is the first thing Tsunade says once we're all sitting on the chairs. Sasori is in the middle, the Jashinist on his left, me on his right.

"Miss, it wasn't my fault. I was trying to help Deidara."

Tsunade turns to me, and those steely eyes make my blood run cold.

"What happened?"

"That weird black haired kid and his friend, the one with glasses, both threatened me, so Sasori and Hidan came to help." I only knew the Jashinist's name because Sasori had hissed it at me as he had sat down.

Tsunade nods, clearly thinking that a new kid wouldn't lie to her.

"Well, I understand that.. Both Orichimaru and Kabuto aren't exactly model students.." She then turns to the still grinning Hidan. "I expected nothing less from you." Hidan's grin doubles at this, and he bows his head. I notice that Tsunade's eyes lighten a little after this, and when she speaks, it's almost as if she's trying to stop herself from laughing. "You may go to your next lessons. I will be speaking to Orichimaru when he regains consciousness and Kabuto when he leaves the school sick bay. Hidan, clean yourself up of that blood before going to your lesson."

We each stand, grab our bags and leave the office in total silence. As I shut the door behind me, I'm certain I hear a peal of laughter, but I don't double back and check. We left the reception quickly, still not speaking. But when we were out in the corridor, Hidan slapped me on the back so hard that I stumbled forwards and nearly fell right over. I turn back to him, a shocked expression on my face, and he grins back. Through the dried blood on his face, it was a rather scary grin, but a grin nonetheless.

"You're not as bad as I thought you were." He announces. "If you ever want help on your fucking fighting skills, feel free to come to me. I'd better go clean this dirty fucking shithead's blood off me. See you bastards later."

Then he walks off down the corridor, a spring in his step. I turn to Sasori, who grins at the shocked look on my face.

"Hidan likes swearing. Even the teachers have given up trying to stop him. In his eyes, calling us bastards is practically a compliment. And he clearly likes you."

"Why..?" I ask, shocked.

"He doesn't offer his vast knowledge of fighting to anyone, ya know."

"No, I meant.. Why would he like me..?"

Sasori blinks at me.

"Because you knocked the guy he hates most out?"

Knocking someone out? That's what got people friends around here? I gulp, suddenly feeling nervous. Sasori seems to pick up on this, because he changes the subject.

"Listen.. Thanks for hitting him for me. I honestly didn't hear him, so yeah.. Thanks.." He smiles. Not a grin, a smile. The cold in his eyes vanishes when he smiles, and his whole face seems to light up. "And sorry for being such a bastard in Art earlier.. I just get pissed off really easily.."

"It's okay." I say, and smile back.

"Do you wanna hang out with us tomorrow?" He asks suddenly. His question takes me by surprise. I hadn't expected to find a group of friends so quickly, but it seems I had. So, I nodded and grinned again.


	2. Betrayal Of Trust

**THE NEXT DAY**

~*~ DEIDARA'S POV ~*~

I took a seat near the back of the bus next to the window and stared out of it as the houses of the street began to merge into one. I looked at the people the bus passed on the street, and spotted some kids from the school walking and chattering in large groups. I couldn't help but grin as I remembered Sasori's words from yesterday. I had actually found a friend on the first day starting a new school, no less. I wasn't sure if Hidan could count as a friend yet, but if Sasori's judgement was true, then I had two friends. I couldn't have been happier.

The bus slowed to a stop, and more kids clambered on. It wasn't until one of them sat in the seat next to me that I was brought back to reality. I jumped as a boy taller than me took headphones out of his ears and wound up a red MP3 Player, stuffing it into his shoulder bag which rested on his lap. The first thing I noticed about this boy was his skin. It was so pale, it looked as if it had a blue tinge to it. His hair was sticking straight up on end, and was turquoise in colour. His eyes were black, but warm, if that made sense. He was thin, and the long sleeved black shirt he wore was baggy against his wiry frame. Dark blue denim jeans hug from his hips, the bottoms of which trailed on the messy floor. Secured around the top of his upper arm was the bandana that Sasori and Hidan had. I blinked and stared at him, wondering why he had chosen to sit next to me even though there so many spare seats on the bus.

"Hey, I'm Kisame." He said, raising a hand.

"Deidara.." I mumbled back.

He grinned. "I'm in the same gang as Sasori and Hidan. That's what this is." He points at the bandana. "A symbol of our gang. Akatsuki. I heard all about yesterday from Hidan. Seriously, you're like his idol now." He laughs.

"What happened to Orichimaru and Kabuto?" I asked, shocked.

"Orichimaru's rep has totally been steamrollered. Not only did he get knocked out by one punch, but by a newbie too. Tsunade suspended him for a week though, so don't look so scared. He's not gonna leap out from behind a bin and attack you at school or anything. Although, while we're on that point, a word of warning. Orichimaru's not one to let grudges go. Chances are, he will try and get you after school or something, so just be careful."

At his words, my heart does back flips and leaps into my throat. I start to tremble, and my eyes widen as far as they will go. Don't get me wrong, I can hold my own in a fight, but Orichimaru didn't seem to be the kind of guy who fought fairly. Kisame holds out his arm and pulls me against him, squeezing my shoulder. I look up, alarmed, at him, and he's smiling broadly.

"Don't look so scared. Both Hidan and Sasori have really taken a shine to you, I'm not joking. I even heard Hidan praising you to 'Jashin-sama'. If Orichimaru tried anything, he was literally freakin' dead. I've only talked to you for this short bus journey, and you seem like a cool guy to me. "

I smiled back at him, and he withdrew his arm. We spent the rest of the bus trip talking about the school and the rest of the members in the Akatsuki gang. I soon learned that the leader was a guy called Pein, his second in command as it were was a girl who had basically grown up with him, Konan, then there was Hidan, and his childhood friend, Kakuzu. Kisame said that as Hidan was always hurting himself, Kakuzu was an amazing best friend to have, as he was an excellent at stitching, a quality Hidan was constantly teasing him for. Next there was Tobi who you should _never_ take your eyes off, and his friend Zetsu who acted like Tobi's child minder, and had a scary addiction to bloodied meat. Then there was Sasori who had a hidden talent for art, then himself and a boy called Itachi. I noticed Kisame's voice go sort of dreamy and light when he said Itachi's name, but I didn't comment on it. Even though I had barely any idea of who these people were, it made me smile to be told about them. I was finally starting to feel at home.

As we got to school, Kisame mentioned having to go and meet Itachi, so he'd catch me later. Before I could move off however, Kisame grabbed my shoulder and held me back. I turned to see him scribbling something onto a slip of paper, which he then handed to me. I took it, and stared at it. Scrawled on the paper was an eleven digit number.

"That's my number. Call me any time you need to." Kisame said, releasing me. Then he walked off, hands in his pockets. I smiled brightly, then slipped the paper into my jeans pocket.

*

I walk out of History class, swinging my bag back onto my shoulder. The smile that I had been wearing from the bus ride with Kisame continued to shine on my face. History had been brilliant. It was a class without any of the Akatsuki, so at first I had been dreading it. But it seems word of my punching Orichimaru on my first day of school had spread around like wild fire. I had settled down into a seat at the back of the room, and by the time the teacher got there, I had most of the class gathered around my desk, asking about what had happened. The teacher, a violent looking woman called Anko, had ordered everyone to leave the new school's celebrity alone, but as she was walking by I distinctly heard her whisper that Orichimaru had had it coming for a long time. By the time I left, I was practically humming.

I folded out my timetable and saw that my next lesson was English Literature, on the other side of the school. I dug around in the front pocket of my rucksack, searching for the map. A knot in my stomach began to tighten when I couldn't feel it. I slid the bag off my back and knelt on the floor, rummaging desperately. I began to feel instantly sick as realisation dawned on me. I'd left the map at home. And now I had no idea of where to go.

As a hand lands on my shoulder, my heart rate rockets and I jump out of my skin. I whirl about and see a boy towering above me. He had shoulder length white hair, two parts of which hung down on both sides of his neck. The bottoms of these bunches were tied with what looked like small plastic red cylinders. His eyes were warm, but had a sparkle of something more sinister deep within them, like Sasori's. They were emerald green in colour. Gleaming on his chest was a red badge. I read the word 'Prefect' across it in golden lettering.

"Are you alright?" He asked. His voice was loud, but kind. I decided to put my faith into the only person who had decided to help me.

"Yeah, I'm just new here and I kinda left my map at home.."

"What have you got?"

I look again at my timetable.

"English Lit with some guy called Kakashi."

He extends his hand to me and helps me to my feet.

"My name's Kimmimaru. Come on Blondie, follow me."

I swung my bag back onto my shoulder and scurried down the corridor after him. He walked quickly, so I had to practically jog to keep up. As we turned out of the History corridor and down some steps, I tried to talk to him to thank him for helping me, but the words became lodged in my throat. There was something about this boy that made me feel intimidated. I couldn't describe it; it was like he was radiating some sort of mysterious power. My gut instinct was screaming at me to turn away from him, to get away, to ask someone else. But I couldn't think of why I felt this way. There was just something about that cold glint in his eyes that I didn't like. Sasori's eyes drew me in; Kimmimaru's sent shivers up and down my spine.

I soon found myself in the grounds. Confused, I checked my timetable again. Last night, I had studied the map which resulted in my forgetting it in the morning, but I couldn't help feeling that the English block was in the opposite direction from where we were headed. I didn't speak up though; Kimmimaru had been coming here for way longer than I had, he was a Prefect, and he seemed like an okay guy.

He led me across the grounds and through a back door of one of the buildings. I found myself in a hallway. Opposite me was a set of automatic double doors, and I realised they were the students entrance to the school. My eyebrows arched in confusion when Kimmimaru went through them, and beckoned for me to follow. As I joined him outside, we started walking quickly in front of the main building. Finally, I found my voice.

"Um.. Why are we going this way..?"

"Kakashi is a bloody hypocrite. He's late almost every day to the class, and the students are meant to forget about it. But if a student is late to his class, he blows his top. This is a shortcut."

He dodges around the corner of the third building, and vanishes from sight for a second. I run after him, to find him waiting for me. When I catch up, he sighs and rolls his eyes, before taking off again.

"Hurry _up_ Deidara."

I freeze. He notices I've stopped because he does too, and turns to look back at me, a quizzical look on his face.

"What?"

"How did you know my name was Deidara..?"

"Because he's with me."

The drawling voice makes my stomach churn and my head spin, but before I can turn around, something heavy smashes me on the back of the head, and my world goes black.


	3. Out For Blood

~*~ SASORI'S POV ~*~

I hurry out of my English class, heading towards where the Akatsuki usually hang out at breaks with a slight skip in my step. I was really looking forward to introducing Deidara to everyone. I knew he'd be let into our gang right away for two reasons. One, Konan would _adore_ him. Any guy that she would consider cute, like Tobi, was a sure bet to be let in, because once she had her mind set on something, it was damn near impossible to make her change it. The second reason was Pein. He had been saying for a while now that I needed a new partner, as everyone else had one. As the knowledge of Deidara punching Orichimaru out had spread everywhere, mostly thanks to Hidan, Pein already knew the guy could defend himself. Add to the fact Konan would adore him, and Deidara would definitely be in.

I turn a corner and throw my bag onto the shadowed concrete of our hang out point. Itachi and Kisame had just had English with Deidara, so I'd told them to lead him over to us. Itachi hadn't seemed too happy about this, but had agreed nonetheless, especially after Hidan had threatened to sacrifice him to 'Jashin-sama'. Oh, speak of the devil.

"Heya you little midget bastard!"

"Hey Sasori." Kakuzu is much calmer as he slides onto the floor next to me. Hidan remains on his feet, grinning from ear to ear.

"Where's Blondie?" He asks, turning his head from side to side.

"Itachi and Kisame are bringing him." I reply.

Hidan nods, and drops his bag to the floor. It makes a suspicious clanging sound as it hits, and Hidan immediately makes a lunge for it again. However, Kakuzu's too quick for him. He grabs the bag and wrenches it open. With a sigh, he turns it towards me. Nestled in the bottom of the bag are about four bloodied knives.

"Hidan." Kakuzu says in a rather pissed off voice. "What have you been told about bringing this kind of thing in?"

"Tsunade wouldn't expel me. She loves me too much." Hidan replies.

"She'll expel you eventually if you carry on stabbing yourself on school premises."

"Look, you _know_ I need to fucking do that to show Jashin-sama my undying faith."

"Yes Hidan, but not in school."

"Yes you fucking bastard, in fucking school!"

I sigh and turn away from the two of them before Hidan loses his temper completely and says every swear word under the sun. I look past Kakuzu's angry face towards the throng of students now spilling out into the grounds, searching for a mass of blond hair. I jump out of my skin therefore, when something lands on my back.

"SASORI-SAN!!!!"

"Hey Tobi.." I mutter back, looking over my shoulder. Sure enough, the masked teen's face is nuzzling into the small of my back. His and Zetsu's arrival seems to have stopped Hidan and Kakuzu's fight, though I see them glaring coldly at one another every so often.

Zetsu pulls Tobi off me, and they both sit down. I turn my head back to carry on searching for Itachi, then start when I see the raven haired boy himself settling onto the floor right next to Kakuzu, Kisame on his heels. I look around him, and blink in confusion.

"Where's Deidara?"

"I didn't know I was supposed to be babysitting him." Itachi snaps coolly. Hidan's attention goes from glaring at Kakuzu, to staring at Itachi.

"You were the only ones in his freaking class.." I spit.

"Fuck off okay 'Sori? The blond bastard never came to class."

Well that's weird. Why wouldn't he turn up? Kisame said he'd spoken to him on the bus, so he was definitely in. Maybe he got lost? But no, it wouldn't have taken him a whole hour to find a teacher to ask and get to the classroom. Something was wrong..

"Why are you grinning?" Itachi asked, looking past me at Zetsu. I turned to stare at the green haired boy too. He was smiling from ear to ear, and I spotted a trail of red out of the corner of his mouth. With a shudder, I turned away and carried on thinking about Deidara and his whereabouts.

"I found a puddle of blood by the English block." Zetsu announces.

"I swear you get off on that fucking stuff.." Hidan mutters.

"Hypocrite." Kakuzu snaps.

I interrupt Hidan as he opens his mouth to shout verbal abuse back at his best friend. "Who's blood Zetsu?"

The boy beside me shrugs, still smiling. He then reaches into his bag and pulls out a plastic tub. I spot bloodied meat through the translucent side of the tub and turn away, stomach lurching. But Zetsu not knowing about blood was definitely strange. At one point or another, he had tasted the blood of everyone in the school, but not the teachers.. So maybe it was a teacher? But why would they be bleeding in such a heavy flow outside the school that Zetsu practically had a feast off it? That was weird..

Tobi raises his hand. "Tobi has an idea, Sasori-san!"

I sigh. "What?"

"Tobi saw a kid getting beaten up out of the window! Then they got carried off and Tobi couldn't see where to."

"Well that explains Zetsu's random puddle of blood." Itachi pipes up.

A kid? Not a teacher? Now this was getting weirder. A kid who's blood Zetsu wasn't familiar with.. A new person..? Oh shit, no.. I turn my full attention on Tobi.

"Who was getting beaten up Tobi? And who was doing it? What did they look like?"

I notice Hidan's face paling as he tags on to my idea. He too leans in close, waiting in dread for Tobi's answer.

"Tobi doesn't know who the person getting beaten was, but the beater was definitely Orichimaru-san. But but buut! Tobi saw that the person getting beaten had really long blond hair!"

Me and Hidan both start and move at the same time. I leap to my feet whilst he snatches his bag up from a bewildered Kakuzu. Without saying a word to the others, we take off towards the front gates. I feel my blood boiling in my veins, and my legs shake as I walk. People coming towards us spot the enraged looks in our eyes, and literally dive out of our way.

I was going to _kill_ Orichimaru with my own bare hands.


	4. Just In Time

~*~ DEIDARA'S POV ~*~

My eyelids flicker, before opening a crack. My entire body aches, and my head throbs. My eyesight is fuzzy, and everything is unfocused. All I see at first is darkness. Then slowly, I spot the blurry outlines of my trainers. I spot a puddle of blood beneath my feet, and my head reels. I feel sick..

"He's awake."

Moments later, a cold, hard hand slaps me across the face. My head swings to the side, and smashes against what I assume is a wall behind me. It seems the wall is the only thing propping me up. My head explodes in agony, and I call out, clutching at it. It's a battle on its own to move my arms.

"Shut up, Blondie."

I look up and make out the white hair. Kimmimaru. There was no kind spark in his eyes or voice now, only cold malice. Standing just next to him is the one person I never wanted to see for as long as I lived; Orichimaru. He was sporting a revolting grin, and I saw splashes of my own blood on his shirt. In his arms he held a baseball bat. That must have been what knocked me out.

Suddenly, Orichimaru's cold fingers grip my chin. I try to wriggle away but he holds on tight. I see the grin morph into a look of sick pleasure.

"You're pretty cute Blondie. Shame I have to beat you up so bad.."

I glare at him, feeling tears form in my eyes. Everything on my body stung, and I was still seeping blood. My eyesight was dimming again. My mind felt foggy, and my eyelids were so heavy. I wanted nothing more at that moment than to close them and just go to sleep.

"But.. You gotta pay for what you did to me yesterday."

"I was.. Sticking.. Up for.. 'Sori.." My voice is thick and groggy, and I feel yet more blood slip down my chin as I speak.

Without warning, Kimmimaru punches me in the stomach. Blood shoots out of my mouth and lands on Orichimaru's shoe. He smirks, wiping it off on the back of his jeans. He then reaches forwards again, cupping my chin. I don't have the energy to fight him off.

"Sasori doesn't need you. He needs –"

"I'M GONNA FUCKING RIP YOUR FUCKING HEADS OFF YOUR FUCKING NECKS, CARVE OUT WHATEVER THE FUCK FILLS THEM AND SEND THEM TO YOUR MOTHERFUCKING FAMILIES AS A FUCKING VASE!!!!! JASHIN-SAMA!!!!!"

Orichimaru releases me, and my head lolls backwards, hitting the wall. I watch in my darkening world as Hidan chases after Orichimaru and Kimmimaru, brandishing what looks like a long knife. Moments later, a flash of scarlet and two pinpricks of red fill my otherwise grey world.

"Sas.. Ori.." I mutter weakly.

I watch as the redhead peels me off the wall and wraps one of my arms around his shoulders. I lean all my body weight on him and he staggers slightly, but manages to walk us out of the darkness. I look back, and find myself staring back at a gloomy looking alley in a neighbourhood clearly far from the school. One of Sasori's arms is curled around my waist, helping me walk, while the other's hand grips the arm around his shoulders. I stumble a couple of times, but Sasori helps me regain my balance before carrying on. My head lolls forwards, feeling so damn heavy, but Sasori stops once again and rests my head on his shoulder. It feels a lot better, and doesn't ache quite so much. Admitting we're not gonna be moving any further, Sasori comes to a complete halt.

That's when Hidan wanders back over to us, pocketing his knife. One of his cheeks has a splash of blood on it.

"I called an ambulance. Not for those scrawny pricks, they got away from me."

"So why have you got blood on you?" Sasori half whispers, taking my thumping headache into consideration.

"Managed to get that Kimmimaru bastard on the back of his leg as they were climbing over a fucking fence. I gave up after that cos I saw what a state Deidara was in.."

Minutes later, the sound of sirens fills the air. I'm taken off Sasori and loaded onto a stretcher. I feel like crying there and then because I missed the feel of him supporting me, but the next thing I knew, they were clambering into the seats next to me.

"Boys, you can't –"

"You gonna try and fucking stop me?" Hidan spits.

"I really –"

"We're going with him." Sasori growls, and the man gives up. He shrugged, then backed out of the ambulance and closed the doors behind him. Within a few moments, the ground underneath me rumbled, and we set off. I turned my head gingerly to look at Sasori and Hidan.

"Why.. Does he.. Hate me..?" I asked, my voice even weaker than before.

"Who Orichimaru? He used to be in the Akatsuki, but Pein, our leader, kicked him out. Never did find out why. But ever since then, he's hated us all, and is always trying to get revenge. Yeah bloody right. Oh, and if you're wondering how we knew where you'd be, when he was with us, Orichimaru _always_ took his victims to the same fucking place every time. Still hasn't changed, luckily." Sasori says, running a hand through his hair. I can't take my eyes off the way the jagged layers flop and fly about. When my heart pounds, I look away as quickly as I can.

"And as you're pretty much in the fucking gang already, the slimy prick is jealous." Hidan says bluntly.

"W..What?"

"You really are a natural blond aren't you? You think we'd have run all this way for anyone but a friend?" Sasori laughs.

For the first time since History that day, I found myself smiling back.


	5. Relief

**THE NEXT DAY**

~*~ SASORI'S POV ~*~

I sidle up to Kakuzu at break time, my hair mussed and windswept, eyes unfocused. In the end, my father had had to forcefully haul me from Deidara's bedside, and lock me in my bedroom. Hidan had vanished home hours before, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave Deidara. It actually pained me to be near him, but yet also be away from him. I felt responsible for his beating; that if I had kept a closer watch on him, Orichimaru wouldn't have attacked him. He was awake and talking to me, so I had wanted to stay longer to find out whether he'd be getting let out or not, when my father decided he'd had enough, secured both arms under mine and put me in a strong headlock, before dragging me away. Just as my father had been pulling me kicking and swearing across the hospital car park, a man with flyaway blond hair the exact shade of Deidara's sprinted past us and into the building itself. I assumed the man was his father. After getting home, I had tried everything to get out again, but my parents had locked all the windows and doors. After that, I had lain awake all night long, so by the time school rolled around next morning, I was exhausted. My mother had said it was my own fault, and had sent me off to school. So now I was practically asleep on Kakuzu's shoulder, my mind full of worry about whether or not Deidara was okay.

"Sasori? You okay?"

"No sleep.." I muttered.

Kakuzu sighs, used to having to deal with Hidan in a similar state. He shrugs his shoulder gently though, and I raise my head off it. Stifling a yawn, I take a seat in my usual spot on the floor. Kakuzu joins me, sighing again. Just then, Hidan materialises in front of us. He looks worse than I do. His eyes are swollen and bloodshot with the lids halfway down already, his entire body was slumped forwards, and he was yawning widely every few seconds. He half collapsed on Kakuzu's other side, and immediately placed his head on the boy's shoulder. I couldn't help but notice the boy didn't try to shrug him off as he had done with me only a few seconds ago. I decided not to comment on it.

"Why so tired, Hidan?" Kakuzu whispered, his voice soft.

"Was up all night guarding Deidara's room.. Got kicked out of the hospital by a nurse at seven, so I had to walk here without getting any rest.." The pale boy replied, his tone calm and quiet for once. "I wanna know what happened to him, but I got no fuckin' idea.."

"You're not alone there, Hidan." I mumbled, raking both hands through my hair.

"Okay, the feeling here is pretty low."

I look up as Itachi settles down onto the floor next to me, his eyes full of worry, an emotion I had never seen before. What's odd about this is that he's alone.

"Where's Kisame?" I ask.

Itachi shrugs. I can't help but notice he's looking around a lot more than usual, as if searching for something. Or someone..

"He didn't show up outside the school today."

Hidan pokes his eyes up.

"Ya miss your little bitch, huh Itachi?"

Itachi's lost manner vanishes to be replaced with his normal cold fury. I don't know why though. Everyone knows that Kisame was head over heels for his best friend. That'd been the first thing he'd told Pein when he first joined; that he had a thing for guys as well as girls, just like me. Konan went mental and said that if Pein kicked Kisame out for that, she'd dye his hair pink. Soon after he got accepted, he got paired up with Itachi. Possibly the funniest moment of my life, them meeting for the first time. Kisame had flushed scarlet and he shook when sitting near to the raven haired boy. Both being newbies to the group, they stuck to one another like glue, so soon Kisame got the hang of concealing his feelings. Funny thing was, Itachi was the only one who didn't know. But why was he so touchy about Kisame being called his bitch..?

"Shut the fuck up, Hidan."

"You didn't deny it."

"I'm not the one sleeping on Kakuzu's shoulder."

Both Kakuzu and Hidan blush pink, before Hidan's eyes darken and he glares at Itachi. As his hand twitches towards his bag, both me and Kakuzu get ready to jump in and stop them. But we don't have to. A squeal from our right pierces through the air, distracting both of them. I turn my head to look, and instantly leap to my feet, eyes widening.

Kisame is walking slowly towards us, and next to him is Deidara. The boy is propped up on crutches, with bandages wrapped tightly around the whole of his arms and legs. They're both laughing, ignoring the crowds of gawking onlookers around them. Without hesitating another second, I hurry over to them. Deidara hobbles to a stop in front of me, and smiles widely. For a reason I can't determine, my head clears of the tension that had been filling it before, and my heart soars with relief.

"Hey Sasori." He says.

"What the hell are you doing here..?" I ask weakly, looking him up and down. On some of the bandages, I could see dribbles of blood.

He shrugs gently, tightening his hold on the crutches.

"I wanted to see you, Hidan and Kisame."

For a moment, I can't answer him. I don't know why. My throat just constricts and I can't speak. Just as soon as he mentioned me, I ceased all ability to speak.

"Yeah, he called me halfway through the bus journey." Kisame says, laughing. "Said would I mind walking up to the hospital so he could get to school safe? I thought hey, free lessons, so I called up the school and told them where I was going."

"You went to pick Deidara up from the hospital..?"

I jump, and turn to look beside me. Itachi had just appeared, a nasty habit he had developed over the course of the years I'd known him. I swear, it got more and more freaky each time. As soon as Kisame sees Itachi, his relaxed manner drops like a stone, and he blushes.

"Yeah.. Sorry I couldn't meet you. I did want to, but I didn't have much credit.. But I did try.."

"Don't worry about it.." Itachi grumbles, then rolls his eyes. "Come on, Kisame.."

Itachi then turns and goes back the way he'd come. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not, but I swear as he passed by me, I spotted a large smile on his face. And Itachi never smiles. I turn back to look at Kisame and give him a secret thumbs up. He grins and nods at me, before following after Itachi. Halfway back to the Akatsuki meeting spot, the two relapse into conversation. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Then I turned back to Deidara. His eyes widened when I caught his gaze, and he blushed scarlet before looking away.

"You okay?" I ask, suddenly concerned.

"Yeah.. Fine.. My dad's waiting outside in the car.. He's letting me come say hi to Hidan, than I have to go back home."

"Alright. Why couldn't he have brought you down here? Why did you need Kisame?"

"He was working up until lunchtime. He thought I'd wait for him at the hospital but I wanted to see you and the others way before that. He caught up with us just as we got to the school."

"Oh.." I don't know why, but when he mentioned me apart from the others, my heart pounded. I did my best to ignore it.

"SASORIIII!!"

I freeze on the spot, as does Deidara. I knew that voice. I braced myself, and sure enough, moments later, a pair of strong arms were wound around my neck.

"Hey Konan.." I muttered awkwardly, throwing Deidara an apologetic look. He grinned as the blue haired girl continued to cling to me.

"Konan, let the boy go."

"But he's cuddly.."

"Let him go, Konan. He can't breathe."

Instantly, Konan releases my neck. I turn around and nod at Pein, who returns it. The sunlight glints off his many piercings as he moves his head, half blinding me.

"That's the leader of Akatsuki?" Deidara mumbles to me. I nod in reply, and Deidara emits a low whistle. This grabs Konan's attention, and she starts violently, having not spotted Deidara until now.

I found myself smirking as her eyes glittered. She looked Deidara up and down, and I saw her take particular time over his hair and visible eye. I found myself staring too. His hair was a bright, vibrant golden colour, which shone in the afternoon sun. Despite it being tufty and his normal ponytail out of place thanks to a lack of a good morning brushing, his hair still looked wonderful. But his eye was something else altogether. I found that the longer I stared, the more different shades of blue would ink themselves across his iris. The way the sunlight reflected off his eye was amazing, and I found myself wondering why I had never found myself lost in those beautiful eyes of his be... Wait, what?

"Who's your friend, Sasori?" Pein asks, coming up behind Konan who was still grinning greedily at Deidara. The blond was starting to look uncomfortable, and kept trying to edge behind me.

"His name's Deidara, he's the newbie. He got beaten up by Orichimaru yesterday cos I defended him on Monday. He got Kimmimaru to lead Deidara to the creepy tosser himself. Orichimaru also got pretty pissed cos Deidara here knocked him out with a single punch."

Konan's face goes from pure bliss to thundery lightning quick. Pein's eyebrows shoot up into the fringe of his hair at my words.

"Orichimaru did _what_?!" She shrieks, her voice stony. "Pein, we are doing something about this."

"Gotcha." Pein nods, starting to follow her as she stormed off towards the reception. "Oh, and Deidara, wasn't it..?"

"Yeah?" Deidara pipes up, looking nervous.

Pein grins. "Welcome to the Akatsuki." He delves around inside his shoulder bag for a second, before pulling out a bandana. He hands it to a shocked and silent Deidara. "Kept Orichimaru's after I got rid of him. It's yours now." He says, smiling.

He then hurries off to catch up with Konan. Deidara turns to me, his mouth hanging open in shock. I can't help but laugh at the dumbfounded expression on his face.

"What are you looking so surprised for?" I ask.

"I'm in..?"

I smile, then my hand acts of its own accord, and ruffles his hair. I can't help but think about how great it feels to have the silky strands of golden blond slither through my fingers. Soon after this thought flashes across my mind, my arm drops back to my side.

"Pein's been desperate for me to get a partner since Orichimaru got the boot. Plus Konan totally adored you, you can see that by the way she was grinning."

Deidara smiles, and I feel my heartbeat increase.

"Well.. What did she mean they had to do something about this?"

"They're the Head Boy and Girl of the school. If they report this to Tsunade, which they will do, she'll do everything within her power to help. I bet you by tomorrow, Orichimaru will be expelled and Kimmimaru excluded, and that's being generous. Oh, and chances are they'll try and swap your timetable around, so that you're with at least one of us for every lesson."


	6. Itachi's Acceptance

~*~ ITACHI'S POV ~*~

I slump down in my seat, the supply teacher's voice just washing over me. Kisame sits next to me, scribbling down notes in his book. God knows why he's taking notes in an ICT class, but hey, that's Kisame. I watch as his hand flits back and forth across the page, then slide my attention to his face. His eyes are full of concentration, taking in every little thing that spouts from the teacher's mouth. I remember what Hidan said at break, and my hands curl into fists on my lap. Kisame notices, and throws me a worried expression. I hate seeing his face do that. His eyebrows arch sadly and he frowns. I hate seeing that look. I shake my head, silently telling him not to worry. His frown deepens, but he turns back to the teacher.

I hated the way Hidan had just about hit the nail on the head without even realising. I had always been good at being the void of any emotion, but Kisame changed me. There was something about him that just added a light to my otherwise pitch black existence. He was always cheerful, always chatty, and it was often difficult to stop him from smiling. When we had first become partners in the Akatsuki, I had seriously considered going to Pein and asking to swap Kisame for Sasori. At least Sasori was gloomy half the time. But after a while, Kisame began to grow on me. Before long, I realised I truly cared about the guy. Merely weeks afterwards, I had found myself forced into a game of football on the opposite team as Kisame. He had managed to score a goal, and in celebration, he had taken his shirt off. I just couldn't look away. I guess it was in that moment that I decided what was happening to me. I had fallen for my best friend. And fallen hard. Luckily, thanks to my constant practise of hiding my emotion, I'd managed to keep it hidden from everyone. Well, everyone except Konan. She just _knew_ this stuff. But I'd made her swear on Pein's life that she wouldn't tell a soul. And so far, she'd kept to it.

"Itachi..?"

I twitch, blink, and look up at Kisame. He's staring straight into my eyes, his face so close I can see flecks of dark turquoise deep in his black orbs. I twitch again, and have to grip the sides of my chair to stop myself from making the worst mistake in the world; leaning forward and kissing him. Instead, I shake my head, and lounge back in the chair.

"Yeah?"

"Gotta do your work now.."

"What's the work?"

Kisame throws me a look.

"Weren't you listening at all?"

"Did I look as if I was?"

Kisame sighs, then laughs quietly. He pushes his book full of notes towards me, which I take gratefully.

"Thanks man."

"You owe me for this." He laughs, before switching his computer monitor on. I lean towards my own and repeat the action, before lounging back again as the monitor warms up.

"Whatever. So, why was that Deidara kid in such a state just now?" I ask Kisame. It was the first thing that came to mind.

"Orichimaru and Kimmimaru really laid into him yesterday. They're the reason he was at the hospital."

"Why _did_ you walk up there for him, Kisame? I mean, he seems like a loser.."

Kisame shakes his head.

"He's a really great guy, Itachi, he just needs friends to help him come out of his shell, that's all." He swivels on his chair to look at me, a serious glint in his eyes. "Just like I did."

With that said, he stands and goes over to the other side of the room to gather up two sets of worksheets for the lesson. I sigh, and lounge back in the chair again, his words filling my mind. It was true. Kisame had come into the school, and was almost immediately teased senseless about the weird tinge to his skin. He had hidden away from the rest of the school, and became the sort of kid who sat at the back and worked in total silence. Then he'd met Sasori. Sasori'd been mocked for his lack of height and the fact he was unnaturally skilled at woodwork, so he and Kisame felt a natural pull to one another. The only difference between their situations was that Sasori was confident and able to rise above the taunts. With Sasori's help and guidance, Kisame soon blossomed into a popular, funny and characteristic guy. Months onwards from this, he and Sasori had been admitted to the Akatsuki. So maybe Kisame had a point. Maybe if we all helped Deidara instead of mocking him, he'd flourish.

"Hey, did you see that new guy at break time?"

"Yeah.. Hobbling into the school like some war hero.. Fucking prick."

Two whispered voices catch my attention coming from nearby. I turn and find myself staring at Kankuro and Temari, huddled up in the furthest corner of the room, muttering to one another. I found my temper snap, before I reached behind me, grabbing a few loose board pens that had been on the desk. Without thinking, I hurled the pens over at the siblings, each one hitting them in their shocked faces. As the two looked up glaring to see who had done that, they spotted me glaring right back. It was immensely satisfying to watch the pink tints of anger in their cheeks drain to the colour of sour milk before they picked up their pens and went back to their work.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kisame hisses at me, spinning my chair around to face him.

"Hm?"

"Why did you throw those pens? What the _hell_ Itachi??"

"Maybe Deidara's not as bad as he looks. I'll be fair and give him a chance, just like I gave you. So I thought I might as well hurt anyone who talks shit about him." I say, rather loudly. I grin when I hear a scared sounding 'Eep' from behind me.

Kisame smirks.

"Me too, Itachi. Me too."


	7. Time Skip

~*~ NORMAL POV ~*~

Time after being released from the hospital passed pretty quickly for Deidara. He soon slipped into a completely different routine to his previous one. Every morning, Deidara would wait outside his house for Tobi and Zetsu, who lived just around the corner from him, and they would catch the bus together. Halfway through their journey, Kisame would get onto the bus, sometimes accompanied by a moody Itachi, who was about as far as you could get from a morning person as possible. Lessons became a pleasant experience too. True to their word, Konan and Pein sorted out all of Deidara's timetable problems. In Art, he had Sasori, English Literature was with Itachi and Kisame, History with Zetsu, Sasori and Hidan and Business Studies with Kakuzu, Konan and Pein. Deidara even began to get a fanclub. He noticed sometimes in corridors, girls hiding behind corners would be peeking out at him, and turning bright red should he turn around and see them. This, as well as everything else, was a massive confidence boost. Deidara loved his new friends, and he enjoyed learning all he could about them. He wore his new bandana with pride around his wrist just like Sasori did, an action that gained him a week's teasing from Hidan.

Hidan was a violent, murderous nutter who had been in the hospital so many times for self harm they had a special room constantly reserved for him. As his religion required blood sacrifices, if he could not find someone to beat up, he would have to do this himself. Deidara had got the shock of his life when halfway through an Art lesson, Hidan had charged in, grabbed a palette knife and cut his arm with it, screaming 'Jashin-sama'. Deidara soon learned that the spikes around the school windows were not for stopping students hurling themselves out, only Hidan. The boy also learnt quickly that Hidan had a seemingly unending supply of knives, and every time they were taken by Kakuzu, more would end up in Hidan's bag the next day. He'd been to anger management classes all his life, but none were able to help him. In the end, his parents just stopped trying, and let him run amok. Luckily, Kakuzu could calm him when he went too far.

Kakuzu was much quieter than Hidan, but could always put the Jashinist in his place with a single icy comment. He was amazing with a needle, and was able to stitch up Deidara's clothes much better than his father ever could have. This however, got endless taunting from Hidan. The Jashinist said that only girls enjoyed sewing, so Kakuzu had said that the next time Hidan needed stitches, he'd have to pay for them at the hospital. Kakuzu had short, spiky black hair and deep green eyes. Deidara also learnt from his lessons in Business Studies with Kakuzu that the boy had an unnatural fixation with money. If they were put into groups for setting up a fake business, Kakuzu would make sure that they always had more money coming in than going out, and if things went wrong, he would go ballistic. It was times like this that Deidara found himself wishing Hidan could interrupt the boy's rants by running into the room, demanding medical help. Deidara soon learnt that Hidan and Kakuzu had known each other since they were both about five years old, and according to Pein, who had grown up near them both, they hadn't changed one bit in eleven years.

Zetsu was definitely the strangest of the lot. He had lime green hair that always seemed to be messy, and both of his eyes were lamp-like yellow in colour. They also seemed to glow in the dark, which added to his creepy factor. Another thing that kept kids away from him; he had a split personality. Halfway through a sentence, his voice would deepen, and he would start arguing with himself. The boy also had a scary fixation with extra bloody meat, and at break and lunch times, you should never look at him, as he would be chomping down on some. Deidara had learnt this the hard way. He had been wondering what Zetsu actually ate for a while, as the other Akatsuki members assured him he didn't want to know, so curiosity overcame him. He had watched behind Sasori's back secretly, and soon became too horrified to look away. After watching Zetsu consume a steak of meat that dripped blood constantly, Deidara had to fight with his insides to stop his own lunch from coming back up. Although Zetsu could seem odd and scary though, he was actually an amazing friend. He was always the first to stick up for a friend, and was one of the reasons that the Akatsuki gang were so feared and admired in equal measure. He could beat _Hidan_ in a fist fight as he was both quick and strong. He and Tobi had lived next to one another since birth, and their mothers had even been in the same hospital wards when going into labour.

Tobi was the hyperactive child of the Akatsuki. Part of Deidara wondered how the boy had ever managed to make it into the organisation in the first place, until he saw the way Konan looked at him. It was almost like she looked on him as an adorable puppy, and if anyone so much as threatened Tobi, she'd be breathing down their necks. He never took off his mask completely. When eating, he'd only lifted it a little to free his mouth. When Deidara had asked the other members why he did this, they had no real reason to give him. Hidan joked that his face was hideous underneath the mask, which made Konan hit him with a cafeteria tray. Only Zetsu had seen the boy without the mask, and when Deidara quizzed him about it, he only laughed and said it was a secret. After realising he was never going to find out, Deidara dropped the matter. Tobi seemed to be the one person out of Akatsuki with exception to Sasori and Hidan who liked Deidara the most. After Deidara had spent two breaks with them, he had started to refer to him as 'Deidara-sempai'. It took a while for Deidara to get used to Tobi's greeting, which more often than not was a yell swiftly followed by a glomp that usually left you sprawled on the ground. Deidara quickly learned that Kisame's warning of keeping all eyes on Tobi was said for a reason. During one break time, when it had just been himself and Tobi waiting for the others, Deidara had turned away for one second, and looked back to see Tobi halfway up the drainpipe. It was only until Zetsu showed up that Tobi got down; Zetsu was the only one he seemed to listen to. Not even the teachers could control him at times. Another lesson Deidara quickly learned; don't give Tobi sugar. He made the fatal mistake of falling for the boy's puppy eye through the mask and had handed him a square of chocolate before Sasori could tackle him. Within moments, Tobi was on his feet, screaming about how the penguins were gonna get him. He had sprinted into the cafeteria, leapt onto Tsunade's back as she did the usual lunchtime patrol and drew a smiley face on her cheek in red Sharpie, announcing that she should go to her happy place. He had ended up with a whole month's detention, and Tsunade had to deal with a faint pink scribble on her face for days.

Konan was like the mother of the group. She was kind and friendly to Deidara and the others, always willing to help them with work or giving them advice on how to deal with a teacher or fellow student. The trouble with Konan was she could change in a heartbeat, like Zetsu. One moment, she'd be smiling and happy, but if she heard someone bad mouthing one of her friends, she'd change to a psychotic maniac, and pelt the person with assorted heavy objects. The best part of this was that when the kid told on her, the teachers would tell them not to be so silly; Konan being the Head Girl, would never do such things. Deidara found her comforting yet terrifying at the same time. He was immensely relieved that she had taken such a shine to him; it was like having his own mother back.

Pein, being the leader of the Akatsuki, was one of the toughest people in the school, and it showed. Deidara had been walking and talking with Pein on their way to Business Studies once when they turned into a tiny corridor practically crammed with students. As people were walking past, the kids would shove or trip them, or call things out after them. Deidara had been dreading walking down there, but Pein had smiled reassuringly at him before clearing his throat. The entire corridor had gone completely silent. Deidara watched in awe as the crowds pressed themselves against the walls, clearing a pathway down the middle. But no-one in the Akatsuki was scared of their leader. It was difficult to fear the boy who'd you'd seen dressed up in a blue bunny suit when he was four years old, thanks to Konan's photo collection. Because of this, Pein was able to let his true colours out. He had a brilliant sense of humour, and he said he'd willing to take a bullet for any of his gang members any day. Deidara couldn't help but admire this boy.

Itachi had been cold and uninviting first of all, but Kisame had assured Deidara at the time that this wasn't a problem, Itachi just took a while to warm to people. And he was right. After a few days, Itachi began to smile when Deidara spoke, and in their English lessons he helped the boy whenever he needed it. Deidara learnt soon after earning Itachi's friendship that his little brother Sasuke, the kid who'd been talking to the pink haired whore about him on his first day, was a right little arsehole. Although Deidara did not consider himself a cruel person, he found it hilarious to torture and mock the bastard. Deidara also learned something secret about Itachi. It had been during an English lesson, and Kisame was off sick. Itachi had been off in his own little world, a thing he usually did when Kisame wasn't around, so Deidara was taking notes for the both of them using Itachi's note paper. As he filled up another double page spread, he tried asking the raven haired boy for some more, but his request fell on deaf ears. Shrugging, Deidara had pulled out a loose bit of paper from Itachi's notepad. As Deidara had gotten ready to write again, he realised the paper was covered in words. Well, more like the same phrase over and over again. It was Kisame's name, over and over in different shades of blue and green, then at the bottom, a red scrawl that read '_Why..?_' Itachi had snapped out of his daydream when he spotted what lay in Deidara's hands, and had snatched it back, turning as scarlet as his eyes. He threatened to gut Deidara if he so much as mentioned what he had seen, and the boy swore he wouldn't tell a soul. This strained their friendship for a while, but when it became clear Deidara would keep to his promise, Itachi relaxed in his company once more. Deidara couldn't help but be afraid slightly of Itachi. The cold, merciless glint in his scarlet eyes was enough, but Zetsu had told him with a laugh that Itachi could kick his ass if he got caught on a bad day.

Kisame was, with the exception of Tobi, the most cheerful person Deidara had ever met. He had yet to see the boy without a bright, beaming smile on his face, or a funny story to tell. Deidara found his presence just brightened the place, and you couldn't possibly be down with a friend like him. It had confused Deidara therefore, when he first joined the gang, why Itachi and Kisame were partners. They were completely different. But when he saw them together, Deidara saw a definite change in Itachi's behaviour and attitude. The boy would cheer up, and would even be seen to grin occasionally. Konan had cornered him in Business Studies one lesson, explaining that she knew why this happened too, and it made Deidara feel a little less like there was so much pressure on him not to spill the secret; if he needed to talk to someone about it, he had Konan. Kisame seemed to be popular with just about everyone. Even the teachers adored him. Deidara had been shocked when Kisame told him that he had been worse than Deidara when he had first started at the school, but with the help of everyone else, he gained confidence. He assured Deidara that the same would happen for him, and Deidara felt his spirits sour.

And finally, there was Sasori. There was something special about the artist, Deidara knew that. He felt like the one he wanted to prove most to was Sasori. He noticed things about Sasori that no-one else seemed to see, like the way his eyes flickered with a happy flame as he worked on a puppet in Art, or the way his fingers danced across the wood, cutting and shaping it into perfection. Then, after weeks of being with the Akatsuki, Deidara noticed more things about his feelings towards his partner. He would crave Sasori's smile, or praise on his latest achievements. He still remembered the way he had missed Sasori holding him, and soon this feeling overcame him and he found he needed to be held by the boy again. But most confusing of all, was when Sasori _did_ smile at him. When he smiled, Deidara could see his entire face light up, and his eyes shone. Every time his partner did this, Deidara would blush pink, and his heart would rocket against his ribs. These feelings confused him, so he confided in Konan. She smiled sweetly, and said that she thought he might like Sasori as more than a friend. As soon as she had said these words, Deidara knew it was true. He was in love with his best friend. But he would _never_ tell Sasori. Instead, he continued to act normally, so as not to raise suspicion, but over time, his feelings grew and developed further. What didn't help this was that Sasori seemed to watch Deidara at all times, as if making sure no-one would steal him away. This thought made Deidara's heart soar with happiness. Sasori was smart, and could be downright scary when he wanted to. Deidara assumed it was the red eyes thing that Itachi had going for him; if Deidara saw furious red eyes glaring at him, he'd be a bit freaked. But Sasori avoided violence as best as he could. He would only resort to it if he lost his temper, and was generally a caring, forgiving guy. The more time Deidara spent with Sasori, the deeper he fell. But he didn't care. He relished the fact he was in love for the first time in his life, and he didn't even care that it was with another boy.

But he should have known everything was going far too smoothly. A few months after Deidara entered the Akatsuki, the end of term was coming up, and Konan had bullied Tsunade into letting there be a dance right at the end. Konan happily told them all this during lunch one day a week away from the dreaded date, and that they could bring in friends from outside the school if they wanted to. At this point, the alarm bells should have gone off in Deidara's head. But the long time spent without threat from Orichimaru had made him almost totally forget about it. So, he just laughed along with the rest of the gang at Konan's enthusiasm, not knowing that the dance would change his life forever.


	8. Konan's Plan And Sasori's Mistake

**ONE WEEK LATER**

~*~ DEIDARA'S POV ~*~

"Come on Deidara.." Sasori nags, standing just in front of me. I roll my eyes and join him.

"There's not exactly an incentive for me to move faster, you know.."

At my words, Sasori grins. As usual, the butterflies went off with a bang in my stomach.

"Me neither Deidara.. But if we don't go, Konan will string us up by our thumbs and leave us there for days or something.."

"You're joking.. Right?"

"Wish I was. Hidan tried to skip out a couple of years ago, and she beat him with a ring binder repeatedly until Pein and Kakuzu tackled her to the ground. And as they were a bit pissed that he'd almost escaped, they left her at it for quite a while."

"She did this last year too?"

"She's been doing it _every_ year since before I can freakin' remember."

I giggle while Sasori smirks as we continue up to the school. I keep stealing sideways glances at him. He's dressed in navy blue jeans with rips across the knees, with a black vest top. Tied securely around his slim waist is a black hooded jumper. As ever, around his wrist is the Akatsuki bandana. His exposed pale skin seemed to glow in the dim lighting, and the crushing darkness around us made it shine even more.

Far too soon, we reach the school. Sasori puts his hand out to open the door, when they're both flung open and Hidan and Kakuzu burst out, gasping for breath.

"What the hell?!" Sasori yells, looking his friends up and down.

"Don't fucking stand there you fucking retards!! Run if you value your fucking manhoods!"

"And stay the hell away from Konan.." Kakuzu adds.

"Why..?" I ask as Sasori goes even paler and mutters 'Not again'.

"Konan does this every year. She sets up this dance, then tries to drug us all to pair us up with one another." Kakuzu explains. "Nope, not joking." He adds when he sees my expression of mixed shock and horror. I turn to Sasori.

"Again..?" My voice shook as I spoke.

"She did it last fucking year too. Except with Sasori and that fucking prick."

"Please don't remind me." Sasori spits coldly. I gulp.

"Tobi and Zetsu already vanished into a classroom together. Me and Hidan realised what was going on, so we legged it."

"Yeah, and if you have any fucking sense, you would be too!"

"HIDAN! KAKUZU! GET BACK HERE, NOW!!!!" Konan's voice rings out from within the school.

Hidan grabs Kakuzu's arm and drags him off in the direction of the Sports Hall, while Sasori lunges at me. His fingers curl around my hand and he starts pulling me off the opposite way. The feeling of his icy cold hand gripping mine sent my heart thumping into overdrive, and my stomach flip. Every so often, he looked back over his shoulder to check whether or not we were being followed.

After a while, he dived behind a hedge, and pulled me down with him. I landed in a heap on the floor while he managed to balance himself on the balls of his feet. Then again, he had planned to leap. I hadn't. I brushed dust and dirt off my black and red T-shirt, and looked at Sasori. He was looking through the hedge carefully, obviously checking for signs of blue hair. He carries on scanning the fields and grounds around the building for a few minutes, before pulling his face away from the branches of the hedge, and settling down on the ground, sighing. I sat in front of him, brushing twigs and leaves out of my ponytail.

"Sorry about that.." He mutters, nodding his head at my hair.

"It's okay.. You were trying to get us out of sight fast. I can always wash it again." I say cheerfully, smiling at him.

He nods, then leans back against the hedge and closes his eyes. He breathes deeply, and for a moment, I think he's fallen asleep. I take the rare opportunity, and stare at him openly. A light breeze wafts his scarlet fringe back and forth, making it dance. Each strand twirls over another, before dropping back into a messy bundle as the breeze dies. His skin seemed to radiate the gentle moonlight, shining silver. I couldn't take my eyes off him as his eyelids slid open, revealing those wonderful red orbs. They shimmered in the silvery light, showing off the swirls and traces of deeper shades of red deep within them.

"Um.. Deidara..?"

I jumped out of my skin, and shook my head.

"Yes?"

"You feeling okay..?" He asks, eyebrows furrowing.

"Yeah.. I'm fine. Honest." I add when he raises his eyebrows into the fringe of his hair. "So.. Why does Konan wanna pair everyone up..?" I asked, not because I was interested; I wanted to change the topic.

Sasori sighs and runs a hand through his hair.

"I'm honestly not too sure, I've never been able to understand how that girl's brain works.. It's just that every year since I joined the gang, she's been doing it."

"What did Kakuzu mean when he said she drugs you..?"

"Usually she slips something into a drink, or the food."

"Isn't that illegal..?"

"Yes. But we all know Pein would gut us with a wooden spatula if we told. Besides, they're not harmful. They're like mild aphrodisiacs. I remember a couple of years ago, when she actually managed to slip some to Hidan. That was classic.." He laughs. "He basically jump tackled Kakuzu, who was mortified. It was so epic.."

"And.. And last year, she paired you with Orichimaru?"

I instantly realise how thin the ice I'm on is. Sasori's face, which a few seconds before had been creased up in laughter, hardened. His eyes turned from warm to icy cold in a moment.

"Yes." His voice was stony as he spoke. "She tried, and failed. Orichimaru took it, and tried to jump on me. I beat ten tons of crap out of him, and yelled myself hoarse at Konan afterwards."

"Why did you have such a problem with it..?"

Sasori looks at me like I've finally gone mad. Which I might have done.

"What? Have you _looked_ at that guy? I mean, I'm bi, I have nothing against dating guys, but _never_ him."

At these words, my heart sours. Sasori wouldn't be too freaked out if I told him I was head over heels for him. But.. What if he rejected me like he did with Orichimaru? I wasn't sure if I could handle the pain that would bring.. No.. I should keep it to myself..  
"Oh.."

He blinks, then grins, staring at me. I flush pink.

"W..What?"

"You've got a bug in your hair." He smiles, pointing to my side fringe.

I comb my fingers through the blond locks, but can't feel anything. I look up at Sasori for help, but he's laughing.

"Here. I'll get it." He mutters.

He reaches forward and slides his fingers through my hair near the top of my fringe. His fingertips brush against the skin of my forehead, and I feel myself tremble. As he pulls his hand away again, a clump of hair that had been loosely attached to the ponytail on the top of my head got lodged in his finger, and fell away from the rest. He grinned, and dropped the bug on the floor, before his hand was tucking the hair back behind my ear. Except this time, he doesn't pull his hand back straight away. Instead, his fingertip traces the line of my jaw down away from my ear. His light touch made shivers run up and down the course of my spine, and my cheeks to flush an even deeper pink. His crimson eyes were locked on my own blue ones, and I couldn't look away from him. I noticed he wasn't looking away either.

My heart rate doubled in speed as his hand flattened out across my jaw line. He was cupping my face ever so gently in his hold, the bottoms of his fingers near the middle of my neck. Then he was adding soft pressure to his fingers, slowly pushing me forwards. His cheeks gained a pink tinge as we got even closer, and I noticed him begin to lean towards me.

'_This is it.. I'm gonna kiss Sasori.._' I thought, my heart racing.

I began to close my eyes, and I saw Sasori mirroring me. My stomach was doing flips, and I was trembling so much you would have thought I was surrounded by ice. I was so close to him now, I could feel his breath on my face. Just as our lips were about to touch, the sound of pounding footsteps reached our ears. Sasori twitched, dropped his hand from my face and leapt backwards, his entire face scarlet. I knew mine was in a similar condition, if not worse. I cursed whoever it was that had interrupted us silently, wishing they could have at least been a few seconds later. At least then I would have had my first kiss.

Moments later, Itachi and Kisame thudded around the hedge, and dived for the floor, rolling over onto their stomachs on impact. Both were gasping for breath, and Itachi was keeping look out underneath the leaves.

"What's all the panic about?" I ask, trying to keep my voice steady.

Kisame gulps in another breath, before answering me.

"Me and Itachi were just about to go into the hall, when we saw Tobi and Zetsu legging it towards us, Konan right behind them. I pulled Itachi around the corner, and we only just managed to duck out of sight in time.. Zetsu and Tobi ran off in the grounds somewhere, so Konan gave up and doubled back. Then she spotted us, and was chasing us all over the grounds.. We've only just managed to lose her.."

"Why was she chasing Zetsu and Tobi? Hidan told us -" Sasori began, but he was interrupted by Itachi.

"They were faking. Zetsu came up with the idea of going into a classroom for 'privacy', when in fact he was trying to hoist the window open so the two of them could escape down the fire exit. Konan caught them just as Tobi was halfway out the window, and she totally flipped."

"GET BACK HERE YOU GUYS! I KNOW YOU'RE BACK THERE!!" Konan's voice bellows from just the other side of the hedge.

Kisame was the first to leap to his feet. He grabbed Itachi by the back of his Slipknot T-shirt, and hauled him up, just as Konan rounded the corner. Her face lit up with delight when she spotted me and Sasori. Kisame and Itachi ran off towards the school, and Konan let them go. Me and Sasori were clearly her new fascination. Little did she know, had she been quiet and a few moments ago, she would have had her dream come true without having to use drugs.

"Thirsty, Dei?" She asked, brandishing an opaque bottle at me.

I gulped, and shook my head, standing and backing away.

"RUN, DEIDARA!" Sasori yelled, streaking past Konan, his small frame just tiny enough to fit under her outstretched arm.

I didn't hesitate. While she was still busy glaring at Sasori over her shoulder, I darted out from in front of her. She cried out in rage as I joined Sasori, and we ran back to the school. I could hear her yelling and swearing behind us, and she sounded way too close for comfort. Sasori was just in front of me, leading the way. I wasn't complaining. It gave me a perfect opportunity to stare at him without having to be sneaky about it.

Just as a stitch had begun to erupt in my side, we reached the school. Sasori skidded to a halt by the back of the Sport's Hall, making me stop too. We ducked behind the corner and stood side by side, gasping in air as quietly as we could. Moments later, Konan appeared by the back of the school, and she looked annoyed. Just as she started towards the Sport's Hall, Sasori shoved me backwards. I crept silently around the side of the hall, keeping to the shadow as best as I could, keeping an eye on the corner, wondering when Konan was going to poke her head around it.

Just then, we passed by a door in the brickwork of the hall. Muttering a silent plea, I tried it. The door swung open. I thanked any godly force listening, including Hidan's precious Jashin-sama, before pulling Sasori inside. I shut the door just to, leaving a tiny crack to peer through. Me and Sasori stood, holding our breath. A few seconds later, Konan walked by, muttering angrily to herself. When we could no longer hear her, we eased our held breaths out, and shut the door completely. As this then left us in total pitch darkness, Sasori reached behind me and flicked the switch. Light poured into the hall, and made me feel a lot better. Our relief didn't last long, however, as we heard someone walking back up the pathway. As we had no way of checking whether it was Konan or not as the door was shut, Sasori pushed me backwards towards a store cupboard at the side of the hall. He opened the door, and pushed me inside.

"Stay there." He whispered, getting his phone out of his pocket. "I'm going to distract Konan. I'll send you a text when it's all clear. Meet me and the others by the school gates when you get my text. Okay?"

I'm about to argue with him, and ask him to let me go with him, when I hear Konan right by the door we came in through, yelling our names. It sends a shiver of fear down my spine, so I merely nod. Sasori gives me a reassuring smile, before shutting the door. Just his smile made my legs turn to jelly. I sighed softly and took my phone out. All I needed to wait for now was the all clear.

That was when the door slid open. But it wasn't Konan standing there. It wasn't Sasori. It wasn't any of the Akatsuki.

It was Kimmimaru.

Before I can move, he grabs my mobile out of my shocked hands, and throws it to the floor, before smashing his foot down on it. The screen caves in, and sparks fly.

"You won't be needing that, Blondie."

He then pulled out a baseball bat from behind his back and smashed it into my face.


	9. One Small Injury

~*~ KAKUZU'S POV ~*~

I poked my head out from behind the tree, and looked about. I could see the grounds, the school and the Sports Hall, but no Konan. Deciding it was safe, I looked over my shoulder and nodding at Hidan. He was sitting at the base of the tree, ready to spring. Upon seeing my all clear signal, he slowly got to his feet and stood behind me. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and peered around. I tried to ignore my quickening heart rate at this simple action.

"We have two choices here Hidan. Walk calmly and hide, or just run like hell for the gate."

"Run like fucking hell gets my fucking vote every fucking time.." He mutters, voice dark. He hates these yearly events, especially as they had worked on him once. I suppose I should hate them too. After all, it was because of Konan's fixation that my crush on Hidan developed in the first place. Oh well.

We'd got Sasori's text a few minutes ago, telling us he had managed to lock Konan in a classroom in the school, so she'd have to call Pein to get him to let her out. This gave us all crucial time to get out of the school premises and go home. We were to meet up by the gates to make sure that everyone was safe and sound, and then head off in our separate directions. Knowing Hidan, he'd probably ask to crash at mine or something. He always did.

"You ready?" I ask, looking back at him.

"You bet your fucking ass."

I roll my eyes, then shoot out from behind the tree. Hidan is level with me within moments, without even trying. I'd never been that good at sports, and it was the one subject Hidan had flourished in. As he saw it, it was an excuse to hurt people and get away with it, and as that was something Hidan loved, he was always good at it. I knew I was the least fit out of all of us, and it annoyed me, the way Hidan tormented me for it. That was the one thing I hated about Hidan; his ego. Everything else, I loved about the boy. Although he had always cursed the one who had put forth the idea of putting the spikes on the windows to stop him jumping out of them, or the banning of giving him knives at lunch, it had been me who had done so. I just couldn't stand to see him hurt. And that was why I hated him self harming at school; I hated seeing him bleed. And it hurt me every time Hidan insulted the one who had done this, because technically he was insulting me. And that killed.

"C'mon Kazu!" He yells ahead of me, grinning smugly. "You can move your ass faster than that!"

I glare, barely able to get enough breath into my lungs to keep myself running, let alone answer him. This only makes him laugh, and jog on the spot. I overtake him, but in moments, he's back in front. He turns and grins smugly back at me again, and my temper snaps. I aim a kick at him, but I miss completely. My foot lands awkwardly on the uneven ground, and I fall flat on my face. The foot I landed on explodes in pain, and it takes all my self control not to yell out.

"Kazu, get up. You gonna be fucking fazed by one fucking trip? And by the way, that kick just plain fucking _failed_."

Angered by his taunts, I stand, leaning all my weight on my good foot. The other ankle is throbbing, but I try to ignore this and show Hidan that I'm not the weakling he thinks I am. I take a step onto my other foot.. And instantly wish I hadn't. The pain turns swiftly to agony, and I fall straight back to the floor. The pain is too much for me to keep contained, and I yell out loudly. I grip at my ankle, but this only makes the pain so much worse. I cry out again, cursing myself for landing so pathetically.

"Kazu..? Oh God, you're actually really fucking hurt aren't you..? Oh shit.."

I look up. For the first time in eleven years, Hidan's face is creased with worry. I try to stand up again, but his strong hand shoves me back down.

"Stay there." He orders, before taking out his phone and pressing a couple of buttons. Still keeping me pinned down with one hand, he holds the phone to his ear. "Oh, hey Sasori. Listen, I need to take Kakuzu back to my place.. He's fallen really badly.. Yeah, he's okay.. No.. No I don't think anything's broken.. Okay.. Alright, see you later." Then he hangs up. "Kazu.. I'm really sorry if this hurts.."

Before I can ask what he's talking about, he slides his arm underneath my legs and one across my shoulders and lifts me up bridal style.

"H..Hidan! What are you doing?!"

"You can't walk.. You need ice on that ankle.. My place is closer by.."

*

Hidan carefully puts me down on the sofa in his front room, and props my bad ankle up on a couple of cushions. His parents have left a note on the table near my head, saying that they'll be out for the night, and could he please not destroy anything? I smile to myself as Hidan vanishes into the kitchen, to get the ice I assume. I look down at my ankle, and wince. It was definitely swollen, and it still stung. But Hidan had been so careful when he was carrying me. He barely jostled me at all, and made sure my foot wouldn't hit anything as we climbed the stairs to his flat. It amazed me to be honest. For someone usually so crazy, violent and fight-obsessed, it was odd to see just how gentle he could be. I smiled softly. I liked the soft Hidan.

I blush as Hidan walks back into the room, an ice pack clutched in his hands, looking anywhere but at my eyes. He places the pack on the floor in front of the sofa, and ever so carefully takes off my Converse trainer. I can't help but wince as his fingertips accidentally brush against the tender skin. This makes him freeze, and I notice him bite his lip. Was he trying to stop himself from losing patience at my weakness and yelling at me?

After my shoe is off, he picks up the pack again and lays it ever so softly across my ankle. The ice is incredibly soothing as it numbs the pain, and I feel myself relax.

"Kazu..?"

I've always love Hidan calling me that. It's his special nickname for me, and no-one else dares to use it.

"Yeah..?"

"I'm really sorry.. I must have really hurt you.."

I've known this boy for most of my life, and I can count on one hand the amount of times he's apologised without being nagged to for hours on end. In fact, there was usually more chance of him hugging Orichimaru than apologising of his own free will.

"You didn't do anything Hidan." I assure him. "It was my stupid fault."

"You're not stupid.." He's still not looking at me.

"Wow, usually you would have laughed and agreed."

"I'm not too keen on the usual me right now.."  
"Whatcha mean?"

"The usual me laughs at you and mocks you even though you're only trying to help me. The usual me teases you senseless about your skill at stitching even though you only use it to heal my injuries. The usual me drove you over the edge, so that you got yourself really hurt. The usual me is a complete and total bastard who can't do anything but hurt the one person he well and truly fucking l-"

My eyes widen, as do his. He looks away from me even more then; he's practically got his back to me.

"W..What..?"

"L.. Loves.." He mumbles so quietly I almost miss it.

"Y..You love.. Me..?" I ask timidly.

I see Hidan's cheeks go scarlet, before he nods. I've never seen the guy blush before, but it's just about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I beam, no longer noticing the stabbing pains in my ankle, and sit up. I reach around Hidan's front, and turn him to face me. He looks surprised at the amount of force I put into making him look at me, but that was nothing compared to his expression when I kissed him full on the mouth. My lips only lingered on his for a few seconds, because nerves got the better of me. I sat back, and smiled at him.

"Right back at ya Hidan."

"H..Hu..Huh..?"

I smiled.

"I love you too, you insane Jashinist."

It takes a few seconds for my words to sink in, but when they do, his face splits into a wide beaming grin. I feel myself smiling back at him. It was amazing, the amount one small injury can do.


	10. Saved Again

~*~ SASORI'S POV ~*~

I slide my phone back into my pocket, and bite my lip. I hoped Kakuzu was alright. He was with Hidan though, so he should be fine. Well, at least that's what I hoped. The only plus side that it meant we were down two people to worry about. Itachi, Kisame, Tobi and Zetsu were all somewhere in the grounds, hiding away from the insane blue haired girl. Which I should be doing. If she'd got out of that classroom already, she'd be out for my blood.

I ducked behind a door in the school, checking around the corner. No sign of blue hair. I breathed a sigh of relief, and tip toed out into the open. I let myself out of the main building through a back door, and slipped out into the dark night. The door slammed behind me, but this sound was hopefully covered by the pounding music from the auditorium just down the hall. Keeping my eyes at all times on the school around me, I sprinted through the grounds, and ended up by the Sports hHHhjaaaa

Hall once more. I flattened myself out against the wall of the English block, and pulled my phone out again. Hastily, still checking my surroundings, I dialled Itachi's number. The boy picked up after the second ring, and his voice was low when he spoke.

"Hey Sasori."

"Hey Itachi. Are you with Kisame?"

"Course."

"Okay, are you making your way to the gates?"

"Yep. We gotta move slowly though, cos I think Konan's out and about again."

My blood runs icy cold.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, I saw a shadow running over to the Sports Hall a few minutes ago. They vanished inside."

"Shit.. Deidara's in there.."

"Why the fuck is Deidara in the Sports Hall?!"

"Long story.. I better go bail him out.. Wanna help?"

Itachi is about to answer, when I hear something that makes my blood run even colder, and my heart hammer against my ribcage. I can tell Itachi heard too, because his voice is deathly silent on the other end of the phone. It was a blood curdling scream, and it was coming straight from the Sports Hall. Even if Deidara was shocked to see Konan, there was no way in hell he'd scream like that. Something was badly wrong.

"DEIDARA!" I yelled, hanging up on the speechless Itachi and pelting over to the dreaded building.

I tried to wrench the doors open but they were stuck tight. They had been locked. Muttering a swear word, I sprinted around to the side of the hall and threw myself against the side door me and Deidara had used earlier. It flew open as soon as my body hit it, and I rolled into the hall. It was ablaze with light, and I instantly spotted something on the floor that made my stomach knot. Blood. And a lot of it.

"Sasori!"

I threw my head up so quickly that a joint in my neck clicked painfully. Deidara was slumped on the floor, and he was in a really bad way. He looked half conscious, with his eyelids halfway down his dulling eyes. His beautiful blond hair was matted with blood, and looked a total mess. Deep looking gashes covered every inch of bare skin, as well as several bruises. His right arm was bent at a weird angle across his lap, seeping blood onto the floor. Towering above him, each holding hockey sticks, were Orichimaru, Kabuto and Kimmimaru. I had never felt more hate towards the creepy bastard as I got to my feet, shaking with fury.

"What.. The fuck.. Is your fucking _problem_?!" I screamed, ice cold anger shaking my voice.

Orichimaru dropped his stick, and stepped in front of Deidara.

"If I can't have you, nobody will." He said.

"What the fuck?!" I spat.

"I love you Sasori. Always have. And I truly thought you cared about me too. That's why I was so angry when Pein kicked me out.. I thought maybe we could get together, but then _he_ came along." He looked over his shoulder at Deidara and glared at him.

"You're fucking mental." I growled, clenching my fists.

"No. Can't you see Sasori? We were partners first. I own you."

"You're more fucked up than I first thought." I snarled. "Don't you get it? I've _never_ liked you. _I_ told Pein to kick you out, 'cos I was so sick of you. I wanted somebody new and wonderful, not some fucking _freak_. And you know what? I got what I wanted with Deidara. So stop acting like a fucking jealous child because beating the shit out of him will only make me fucking _hate_ you more."

He blinks, looking shocked.

"You.. Hate me..?"

"It's taken you that fucking long to work it out?"

Orichimaru glares at me, and picks up the stick from the floor. Behind him, Deidara is slowly fading out of consciousness. I have to get to him and take him to a hospital before he dies of blood loss. The scarlet liquid was still dripping down his arm at a worrying rate, and I didn't know how much longer he had. But I can't focus on getting to Deidara right now. The trio are moving towards me, raising their weapons of choice. I tense, readying myself for a fight. I could take down any of them at any given time, but not all three at once.

Just then, a booted foot flies out from behind me and kicks Kabuto right in the face. His nose snaps, and starts gushing blood all over the floor, an injury he should be used to getting by now. I jump, and whirl around. Standing behind me, gasping for breath, are Itachi, Kisame, Tobi, Zetsu, Pein and a _murderous_ Konan. Her eyes are wild with fury and she's practically breathing fire as she lowers her foot.

"Hidan might not be here, but we can do so much worse than he can." Pein spat furiously, glowering at the trio who now looked terrified. "Sasori, you go check on Deidara."

"What makes you think we're gonna let him pass?" Kimmimaru growls.

Zetsu puts an arm across my chest, and drags Tobi forwards. It's then that I notice something different about the usually hyper boy. He seemed to be radiating an aura of violence and death. I see his eye through the hole in his mask. The usually happy, glittering red orb is now cold and furious.

"You hurt my sempai." His voice matches his eyes as he speaks. "I'm going to make you fucking pay."

I watch in awe as he jump kicks Kimmimaru across the jaw and lands on his stomach, throwing punch after punch on the boy. Zetsu quickly joins his best friend, and he seems to be laughing as he bites Kimmimaru's arm. The boy yells out in pain, as Zetsu's teeth are scarily sharp, but his mouth is instantly blocked by Tobi's fist. Orichimaru starts towards them to help Kimmimaru, but he finds Kisame and Itachi blocking his path. I turn over to Kabuto backing away from Konan and Pein, who were both rolling up their sleeves, looking like equally pissed off thunderstorms. I smile as my friends continue to lay into the trio, then run through them over to Deidara.

He's barely conscious as I reach him, but he smiles when I get there all the same. The blood doesn't look as bad close up surprisingly. I look at his arm and see that most of it was smeared across his arm, making it look worse. The cuts aren't as deep as they seemed either, but his arm is definitely broken. I untie my hoodie from around my waist and use it as a temporary sling for his left arm.

"Can you stand..?" I ask softly, my voice catching in my throat at seeing him look like this.

"Yeah.. I may need to lean on you though.."

"Sure.." I whisper, winding his good arm over my shoulder and helping him to his feet. He wobbles slightly at first, then manages to steady himself.

Being as slow and careful as I was the last time Orichimaru had got to him, I helped him walk to the side door of the hall and out into the cold night air. I managed to walk him to the front gates, before carefully putting him down onto the floor. I hated the idea of settling him down onto the cold concrete, but as there were no benches, I had no other choice.

"Call my dad.." He whispers weakly. "His number is written on a but of paper in my pocket.. He got a new phone today but I didn't get the chance to copy the number into my phone, so the paper's still there.."

I bend down and reach into the pocket he nodded his head towards. When my fingertips brush against his stomach, he trembles, and I think back to when I had nearly kissed him. I look up into his eyes as this memory comes back to me. I had tried that to see how he would react. I was immensely shocked when he didn't freak out and push me away from him. Instead, he had gone to kiss me. I could admit that I felt something stronger for Deidara, but I wasn't sure what it was. What I did know was that I always wanted to protect him, and I never wanted him to get hurt. Although, at this exact moment, all I wanted to do was kiss him, to see if those lips were as cushiony as they seemed.

"Um.. Sasori..? What are you –"

I interrupt him as I lean forwards and kiss him. I linger my lips on his for a couple of seconds, and realise just how soft and cushiony they really were. I didn't want to pull back, but he needed an ambulance, and he was probably well and truly freaked. I mean, he looked shocked when I told him I was bi, so I can't imagine what's going on inside his head right now, apart from '_My best friend just kissed me?! What the freaking fuck?!_'

I grab a slip of paper from his pocket and stand, smiling sadly down at him. He's staring up at me, his good hand covering his mouth, eyes wide in shock. I sigh softly, then turn and copy the number into my phone, then press the call button. After a few seconds of ringing, a man picks up.

"Hello?" His voice sounds cheerful, like a carbon copy of an older Deidara.

"Hi, this is Deidara's friend, Sasori."

"Oh, Sasori! The boy who took him to the hospital? I must say son, I owe you a thank you. The doctors told me if he'd been left alone, he wouldn't have made it."

"That's um.. Okay.. Listen, we have a situation.."

"What's happened?" His voice is suddenly tense.

"The boys who beat him up before got to him again.. I'm really sorry I couldn't protect him.. He's okay, he wanted me to call you.. I'm so sorry.."

"Sasori, son, that's okay. Just tell me where you are and I'll come pick you both up."

"Outside the school.."

"Alright. Stay there. I'll be there in a few minutes. Look after my son like you did last time." And the line goes dead.

I turn back to Deidara who hasn't moved. I slip the paper back into his pocket and smile.

"He's on his way."

He nods, but continues to look shocked. I mean, I would have been too if I was him. I'd never even told Itachi that I liked guys as well as girls, so it was no surprise Deidara was surprised. I mean, I had just kissed him without so much as a warning. I just hoped it wouldn't freak him out so badly that he'd avoid me from now on. Because I think that would be the final blow. If I lost him, I'd want to die. I'd honestly never felt this way about someone before. Deidara made me want to be a better person; the kind of guy who'd die to save him. And I really would. I.. I _loved_ him..

"Sorry about that kiss Dei.. I just had to check that I was feeling what I thought I was feeling.."

"W..What were you feeling..?" His voice is muffled behind his hand.

I'm not sure if I can answer him at first, then I realise that he must already suspect something as I'd just freaking _kissed_ him, on the mouth no less.

"I had to check.. For a while now, I've had these strong feelings for you.. Feelings like wanting to protect you and keep you safe, and when I see Orichimaru hurting you, it drives me crazy 'cos it only happens when I let my guard down and don't protect you enough.. I hate myself for letting you come to harm.. Because.. Ah, Jesus Dei.. I think I might actually be in love with you.. And I can understand why you'd be freaked out by that.."

Deidara's eyes widen even further, and his hand drops back to his side.

"S.. Say that again.."

"What, the whole drawn out speech?"

"N.. No.. The part about y.. you loving me.."

"It's true.. I do love you.. Have done for a while now.. That's why I nearly kissed you earlier.."

Deidara opens his mouth to speak, when a car pulls up just behind me. I turn around and see a man with blond hair to his waist getting out of the front seat. He hurries over to us, takes one look at Deidara, and mutters a series of swear words to himself. He then turns to me, and holds out his hand.

"You must be Sasori. Deidara's told me all about you, son."

I shake his hand.

"He has? What's he been saying? Good stuff I hope.."

Deidara's father smiles. "Nothing bad as of yet. Here, give me a hand with him, I don't want to move him too much; might start the blood off again.."

Together, we carefully pick Deidara up from the floor and carry him towards the car. His father opens the door for us, and we carefully place Deidara in the seat. Once he's secured safely, I scurry to the other side of the car and slide into the seat next to him. He doesn't take his eyes off me. Not once. I blush pink as I continue to feel his gaze on the side of my face. I couldn't believe I'd said all of that to him.. He probably thinks I'm a freak..

"How are you feeling Deidara..?" His father asks as he turns on the engine.

"I'm okay.. I just need some bandages and a cast."

"Alright. In that case, I'll stop off at home to grab some money for the damn car park at the hospital."

Deidara lives about ten minutes away from the school, and the entire journey is taken in complete silence. Deidara's father is staring at the road, Deidara is looking at me, and I'm keeping my attention on the pitch black darkness outside. I wanted more than anything at that moment to be able to read Deidara's to find out what he was thinking. Wouldn't surprise me if it was something along the lines of '_Oh my God, this boy just confessed his love to me.. Ew.._' As this thought crosses my mind, I rest my forehead against the glass window and bite my lip, honestly feeling like crying.

*

"I'll be five minutes."

"Alright."

"See you in a bit, Dad."

Deidara's father smiles at his son, before jumping out of the car and vanishing through the front door of the house. For that brief moment, Deidara had taken his eyes off me. However, as soon as his father had gone, he was back to staring at me. I sighed sadly.

"Deidara.. Why are you looking at me..?"

He doesn't reply, but continues to stare. My temper is starting to flare. All I'm after is a response. I swivel in my seat to tell him so, when he grabs me by the base of the neck to hold me still and kisses me on the mouth. I'm in a state of shock as he releases me, frozen to the spot. For the first time all night since I left him, Deidara smiles.

"I think I might just love you too, Sasori." He laughs, reaching across with his good hand and holding mine.

I beam back at him just as his father returns. Deidara doesn't drop my hand all the way to the hospital, and it makes my heart sour with happiness. I couldn't believe that he truly liked me back. I had never had much success with relationships, and I'd usually have to follow my crushes around for weeks before getting the courage to hold their hands, let alone kiss them. But Deidara made it all so much easier.. And now that I knew he felt the same.. I just couldn't believe it..


	11. Kisame's Secret

~*~ ITACHI'S POV ~*~

I stand a few yards away, Kisame right beside me as Konan and Pein help load the unconscious forms of Orichimaru, Kabuto and Kimmimaru into the back of the ambulance. We'd well and truly got Deidara and Sasori's revenge on the three of them. After we'd finished, there wasn't a speck of skin that wasn't covered in blood. After this, Konan had called the ambulance, and played a fantastic role of being the hysterical Head Girl who found the bodies. She'd said her friends were helping to check them all over, but could they all hurry as they were in a critical condition. I smirked as I realised her plan. If we were checking them over, it would explain why our fingerprints were all over them, and why our clothes were caked in their blood. The girl obviously thought her plans through, and she was a brilliant actress. On the phone she'd managed to sound terrified, like she'd never seen violence before, and when the ambulance arrived, she'd even managed to turn on the tears. Upon seeing this, Pein had muttered that she'd gotten out of a lot of trouble by doing this. As the ambulance men were talking to Konan and trying to calm her down, Pein has hissed at the trio on the floor that if they were fond of their limbs, they'd keep this a little secret, and stay the fuck away from his gang.

"Alright.. You've had a bit of a scare miss, so I think it's best for you to go home and get some rest.." The ambulance driver announced, patting Konan on the shoulder softly.

"Y..Yes.. Will they be..?" She nodded her head towards the ambulance. The man looked uncomfortable.

"They're in a very unstable condition. But I expect they'll pull through."

At these words, Konan started crying all over again, but with a beaming smile on her face.

"That's brilliant! I'm H.. Head Girl you s.. see, and I organised this d.. d.. dance.. So to think that t.. this could happen.." She trails off, and the man smiles sympathetically at her.

"They'll be fine. You all did a good job saving them like this. Take care of yourselves." He then gets into the ambulance and drives off.

As soon as the sirens fade into the distance, Konan wipes away the tears from her face, grinning.

"You really did a number on Kabuto." Kisame laughs.

"What about you and Itachi with Orichimaru? I thought I'd die laughing when I saw how bent out of shape his face was!" She giggled.

I stretch my arms, clicking my fingers.

"I wonder how Deidara is.." I mutter.

"Sempai will be fine! Sempai is with Sasori-san!" Tobi assures me, bounding over. Once Kimmimaru was well and truly out of it, he snapped back into being his normal, happy, hyper self.

"I hope so, Tobi.." Zetsu says, appearing from behind Tobi.

"Look, we all know Sasori's responsible. He'll look after him." Pein says, wiping flecks of blood off his hand with his sleeve.

"Alright.. I'm gonna head off home now. Just gotta grab something from my locker first." Kisame announces, stretching his arms too. "Coming Itachi?"

"Sure. See you guys in a minute."

The others wave and Tobi gives us his usual goodbye; a flying jump hug. After detangling ourselves from his tight hold, we start making our way over to the school. I watch as Kisame walks on ahead a little, hands over the back of his head. His head is thrown backwards as he stares up at the sky. The moonlight outlines his perfect features, making his eyes dance. I blush, and look away.

"You've been training, haven't you Itachi?"

"Huh?" Kisame's question snaps me out of my daydream. I turn back to him. He's come to a halt, and seems to be waiting for me. As I draw level with him, he smiles and carries on up the path.

"You never used to be able to kick that high before." Kisame announces. "I just wondered if you'd been training."

I shrug. "Sasuke's starting to really try to beat me now. So I thought I'd get even better than I am now just to totally humiliate him."

Kisame smirks. "Brother of the year you're not."

I smile. "True. But neither is he."

"Ah, touché."

I grin as we walk side by side towards the school. Another year over of Konan trying to drug us. Bring on the next. I yawned. What with all the running, jumping and hiding I'd had to do tonight, not to mention the fight with Orichimaru and his friends, I was suddenly very tired.

"Do you think there are any buses running at this time?"

Kisame checks his watch. "It's only eight."

"Really? Feels a lot later."

"Tell me about it." Kisame laughs.

We reach the school, and enter it in silence. This was how me and Kisame usually spent our time; in silence. I had asked him why once, and he had said he appreciated that I needed my own space every so often. He also said that he understood how I liked silence and as he was so talkative, he'd try and tone it down a little. I just couldn't pluck up the courage to tell him that I _loved_ talking to him, because I loved everything about him. But if I complained about the silence, he'd realise something was wrong, and he'd worry. And that was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.

His locker was on the ground floor, near the cafeteria. I leant against the rest of the lockers and he swung the door open and grabbed a couple of books from inside. He then started rummaging, probably looking for something right at the back. I watched as he moved different things about within the locker, muttering swear words under his breath as he got more and more agitated. It took all my self control not to start laughing. Just then, I noticed a small slip of paper escape from the locker and fall to the floor. It landed right by my foot. I looked up at Kisame. He didn't seem to have noticed, so, with a shrug, I bent down and picked it up.

It was a folded up piece of paper, and I could see the familiar scrawl that made up Kisame's handwriting on the other side. I stole one more look up at him. Kisame was still too busy with his locker to pay any attention to what I was doing, so I allowed curiosity to get the better of me. I folded the note open, and saw the date a couple of days ago at the top of the page. I twitched when I noticed it was a diary entry, and was about to slip it subtly back into Kisame's locker when I saw my name. Unable to resist, I started to read.

'_I don't know what to do anymore.. I keep noticing all the small things that Itachi does as being the best things about him.. I mean, his smile, for instance. All he has to do is freakin' grin, and my legs go like jelly. And I hate feeling this way, because I know that no way in hell is he ever gonna return my feelings. And that's killing me. But I can't let him know. If he knew, he'd completely freak out.. He'd hate me probably.. And I can't live through that. If Itachi started hating me, it'd really kill me, because I love him with my heart, body, mind, soul.. Everything.'_

My hand shakes as the diary entry falls from my grip. It lands on Kisame's foot, and he must have spotted the sudden flash of white against his black trainer, because he pulls his head out of the locker. I watched his face as he spotted just what it was. His cheeks completely drained of colour, and his eyes looked wide and full of panic. He turned to me, and I swear to God I saw his eyes filling up with tears.

"You weren't supposed to see that.. Ever.." He mumbles, his voice breaking.

"Why..?" My own is quiet; just above a whisper.

"Aren't you freaked out..? Itachi, your best friend is in love with you!"

"Why would that freak me out?" I reply, smiling. Kisame looks confused. "Let me tell you a little secret, Kisame."

Still smiling, I grab the front of his shirt, and pull him down towards me. Our lips crash together, and Kisame emits a squeak of surprise. My hands release the front of his shirt and instead slide up into his hair. I feel him smile against my mouth, before winding his arms around my waist, his hands wandering up and down my back. Very soon, the sweet kiss gains heat and passion as Kisame pins me to the locker. Eventually, we have to come up for air, although I never wanted the kiss to end. Kisame smiles at me as I gulp down oxygen, and closes his locker.

"Wanna go back to my place? Right now?" He asks, smirking. I smile back and nod.

I couldn't believe Kisame liked me back. I'd always imagined him to be the one to freak out should he realise the way I felt about him. But it turned out that he felt exactly the same way about me. I was so happy, I could break into a random little dance. But I won't, as Kisame would laugh until he wet himself.

My smile grew as Kisame took my hand in his and led me back towards the front of the school, not caring about who we passed along the way. Let them spread rumours, I wanted the whole of the school to know that Itachi Uchiha was going out with Kisame Hoshigaki. If they were going to try and mock us for what made us happy, then they were the ones who needed to reassess their lives, not us.


	12. A Strained Relationship

~*~ KISAME'S POV ~*~

Still holding Itachi's hand, I lead the two of us back outside. The other four are still waiting for us when we get there, and when Konan sees our entwined fingers, she squeals. Pein's eyes widen as far as it's possible to go, and Zetsu smirks. Tobi however, squeaks with delight, and runs over.

"Itachi-san and Kisame-san are dating now?" He yelled, jumping up and down and clapping his hands. Itachi reaches forward and pats the masked teen on the head.

"Yes."

"Yaaaay! Tobi was wondering when Itachi-san and Kisame-san would!"

"Whatcha mean, Tobi?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Tobi knew that Kisame-san liked Itachi-san and that Itachi-san liked Kisame-san!"

"Uh.. How?" Pein asks, walking over. "I had no idea.."

"Tobi's different. He sees stuff other people don't." Zetsu replies, hooking his arm around Tobi's neck. "It's almost as if he's psychic sometimes."

"Yaaay! Tobi is special!" I blink as Tobi says this. Although the words were like him, his tone contained an almost bitter edge.

"Tobi is very special." Zetsu grins. Behind him, Pein raises an eyebrow.

"So yeah.. Um.. Me and Itachi are gonna head off now.." I say, scratching the back of my head with my spare hand.

Konan smirks.

"Wow, all the way on the same night you confess?"

At the same moment, both and me Itachi flush bright scarlet. At this, Konan giggles.

"Leave them alone, Konan.." Pein says in an exasperated voice, clearly tired from all the fighting of the night.

"What's my motivation?" She asked. "My dream has finally come true and I can't gloat on it?"

I sigh, before pulling Itachi against me and kissing him full on the mouth. Konan squeals again as Itachi winds his arms around my neck and pulling me against him even more. I pull away after biting Itachi playfully on the lip and grin down at him when he glares.

"You're gonna pay for that." He mutters darkly.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." I smile. "That was your motivation, Konan." I add.

"KONAN-SAN!! THAT'S EVIL!!"

Both me and Itachi jump out of our skins in unison and turn back to be met with a scary sight. Tobi is latched onto Konan's back, his hands clamped over hers. They seem to be fighting over something, but I can't tell what. Zetsu is holding onto one of Tobi's ankles and is trying to pull the boy off, but he's holding on tight. Pein has Tobi's other ankle and is tugging with all his might but his efforts are all in vain. Konan is trying to force her hands out of Tobi's grip, but the boy is determined. And when Tobi got like that, it was damn near impossible to snap him out of it.

"Uh.. What's she done..?" Itachi asks, his arms still wound around me.

"NOTHING!" Konan shrieks, trying to wriggle away from Tobi again.

"KONAN-SAN, DON'T LIE! KONAN-SAN WAS VIDEOING ITACHI-SAN AND KISAME-SAN!!!"

Itachi twitches. "She's what..?"

"Tobi spotted her camera phone and snapped. He just jumped on her and we can't GET HIM OFF!" Pein yells, giving Tobi's ankle another almighty tug.

Zetsu sighs with frustration and drops Tobi's foot. Under Pein's confused stare, he walks over to Tobi and places one hand on the side of his mask.

"Let her go Tobi, or I'll take this off."

I half expected Tobi to ask what the big deal was, but his reaction was quite the opposite. He immediately released Konan's hands, and she shoved her phone back into her pocket. Pein let go of Tobi's foot, and the boy stumbled a little as he stood up, his visible eye all the time fixed on Zetsu. After Konan had backed a safe distance away, Zetsu let go of the mask. Tobi's arms folded over his chest, and I don't know if it was just me being paranoid, but I swear his red eye darkened and gained a glint of malice once more.

"That was mean, Zetsu-san.." Tobi grumbles angrily.

"Had to be done." He replies in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What Konan-san did wasn't fair!"

"I admit it wasn't Tobi, but that's still no excuse to jump on her and half strangle her."

"But-!"

"Tobi. Give it up." Zetsu's voice became stony. The boy realised he should push his friend no further, and lapsed into silence.

Konan was still massaging her neck. I could see from where I stood that the places Tobi had been clinging on were slowly developing into bruises. Pein was looking a mixture of confusion at Tobi's behaviour and anger at how he had hurt his fellow gang member. I turned to Itachi. He looked back at me and simply shrugged.

"Yeah.. Well.. We're going now.." I said, turning. "See you guys soon."

"Wait. We'll come with you."

Moments later, Zetsu and Tobi marched past. Zetsu's hand was clamped around Tobi's arm, and the boy looked less than happy. In fact, he was struggling to free himself from Zetsu's grasp, much like a child would if it's parent was about to shout at it. As they vanished into the black night, I sighed and wound my arm around Itachi's shoulders. He shuffled closer and placed his arm around my waist. I smiled as he rested his head on my shoulder as we walked.

"Tobi sure is acting weird tonight." I say.

"I know what you mean. As soon as we told him and Zetsu what we'd heard from Sasori's phone, he went all crazy. And Zetsu looked a bit pissed off too."

"Yeah, and did you notice the damage he did to Kimmimaru's arm? I mean usually, it's a couple of bites and the sucking of some blood. But he bit that guy to ribbons.." I point out.

"I've never seen Zetsu that angry." Itachi mutters, shuddering. "I mean, I've seen him annoyed and that's dangerous at the best of times, but never so much so that he's willing to let a kid die of blood loss."

"I know. And as for Tobi.."

"Yeah. Total angel child one moment and violent psychopath the next. And he's _never_ attacked one of us before, especially not Konan. She's like his mother.."

"I know.. What got into him? Maybe he was really angry at her invading our privacy?"

"It wasn't exactly private though, was it?"

I laugh. "True."

We round the corner of the path and see the gates in plain sight. Zetsu and Tobi are there, two silhouettes against the night. We watch as the taller of the two, Zetsu, starts waving his arms around wildly.

"Wonder what they're talking about." Itachi mutters, raising an eyebrow.

"I dunno, but it looks like it's getting a bit violent."

Just as these words leave my mouth, Tobi rushes forward and pushes Zetsu. They both start bellowing at one another, and they're so loud, me and Itachi can catch words of what they're saying. I distinctly hear Tobi saying stuff about hurting and betrayal, then Zetsu calling him stupid and ignorant. Me and Itachi exchanged a look of confusion, and when we looked back, both boys were rolling about on the floor, throwing punches and kicks at one another.

"HEY!!" Itachi yelled, releasing me and sprinting forwards. Still shocked at the two best friends' behaviour, it took a few seconds before I joined him.

By the time we got there, Zetsu's nose was bleeding heavily, and several bruises littered his face. A steady stream of blood dripped from the back of his head. Tobi's mask was cracked, revealing the bottom half of his face. His skin was incredibly pale, and his lip was cut and bleeding. There was a severe looking bite on his hand. Itachi secured both his arms around Tobi and hauled him off Zetsu, while I pinned the green haired boy to the floor by pressing my foot down on his chest.

"What.. The _hell_.. Is up.. With you guys?" Itachi gasped, out of breath from the run.

"Ask _him_." Zetsu spat, nodding at Tobi. "He's the one who's going over the fucking top about _nothing_."

"Nothing?! You call my feelings nothing?!" Tobi yelled furiously, struggling to free himself from Itachi. I noticed he'd dropped the whole third person way of speech; something he only did when severely angry.

"Guys, what the fuck?!" I shout, pressing my foot down harder on Zetsu's chest when he opened his mouth to retaliate. "You're the best of fucking friends! What the fuck's got into you?!"

"I've told you, ask him!" Zetsu hissed.

I turn to Tobi. "Well?"

"_He_ is a total betraying bastard!" Tobi bellowed, his voice high. "I put my full trust into him and he breaks it!"

"Bullshit!" Zetsu yelled.

Tobi opens his mouth to snarl something back, but Itachi jerks his arm up and holds him in a tight headlock, half cutting off his breathing circulation. The boy chokes, before shutting his mouth again and shooting a furious glare up at Itachi. He returns it.

"Guys, seriously.. What the fuck is going on here?" I say, massaging my temples with my hands.

"Tobi overreacts about the tiniest little thing. He sees one thing, assumes the worst and then screams at me for something _he _took totally the wrong way." Zetsu growls.

I hear Tobi struggling against Itachi, who refuses to let go. I sigh, then look back down at Zetsu.

"Explain? What has he taken the wrong way?"

"Tonight at the dance. Why do you think we only got halfway out of the window? Tobi brought something up that he'd seen earlier that he'd taken totally _wrong_, and had a go at me for it. We ended up fighting, and only remembered our plan when we heard Konan knocking on the other side of the door."

"What did he see Zetsu? What happened?"

"You know that bitch in our year, Ino Yamanaka?"

"Yeah.."

"She's been telling me all year about how much she loves me, how much she wants to date me. But the bitch just won't take no for an answer."

Tobi began to writhe and struggle against Itachi and tried to speak even though he was still locked in Itachi's hold. The raven haired boy had no option but to slap his hands across the boy's mouth. All that was emitted was a muffled shriek of annoyance.

"Thanks Itachi. Anyway, tonight, she saw it as her grand chance, so to speak. I was hiding away from Konan while trying to find Tobi at the same time. Bloody tough, cos Tobi is the best at hiding. Anyway, she somehow manages to corner me in a room and fucking kisses me. I know right?" He says when he spots mine and Itachi's shocked expressions. "As soon as she's on me, I push her away cos you know, it's disgusting and -"

"OW! FUCK!!"

"BULLSHIT, ZETSU!!"

I whirl around. Itachi's hand is dribbling blood, and flecks of it are on Tobi's mouth. In an attempt to support his injured hand, he'd lessoned his grip on Tobi, who had struggled free and towered above Zetsu, breathing fire. I feel intense anger boiling up inside me at the sight of Itachi's blood, and I take a step towards Tobi, who turns to glare at me. However, before I can take another step, a strong hand forces itself onto my shoulder and holds me back. I turn to see Zetsu behind me.

"I'll handle this. You tend to Itachi."

"..Alright."

Keeping both eyes fixed on Tobi, I pull Itachi to me and we both settle on the grass by the gates. I gently turn Itachi's hand over in my own, examining the bite. It's not too deep, and the blood has stopped, but it still makes me livid to see him hurt. And because of a friend, no less. Tenderly, I wipe away the smeared blood across his hand. If it hurt him, he didn't show it in his face. That done, he smiles one of his rare bright smiles at me, before we both look up at the other two.

"Tobi. What I've told you is the truth."

"You're lying!! I _saw_ you! I _saw_ you kiss her!"

"It may have _looked_ that way Tobi, but I promise -"

"Your promises mean nothing!!"

Zetsu rolls up his sleeve, revealing his wrist.

"What's this then?!" He snarls.

Tobi's red eye widens through the mask as he sees whatever it is on Zetsu's arm.

"What is it..?" Itachi asks, as confused as me.

Zetsu shoots us a side glance, before sighing. He turns to face us, and tilts his arm slightly so that it catches the dim lamp in the grounds. The underneath of his wrist faces us, but what should have just been pale skin, was intricate colourful lines. Me and Itachi stood and studied his arm closer at the exact same moment. Inked into the skin was a jet black marking that I knew at first glance to be the Japanese Kanji symbol translating as 'love'. This symbol was enveloped in several brightly coloured flames; fiery orange, coal black, vibrant yellow and emerald green. The flames spread around the entire 'love' symbol, and were all outlined by a thick, scarlet line. My jaw dropped as I took this bizarre sight in.

"Zetsu... Is this _real_?" Itachi muttered.

"Yes."

"When did you get it done..?" I whisper in awe, staring at the tattoo.

Zetsu looks directly into Tobi's visible eye as he answers.

"Near to the end of the summer holidays." He turns back to us. "Hurt like a bitch, I can tell you."

"What's with the weird colour scheme..? I mean, the yellow and green I get, because they're your hair and eyes, but what's with the orange and black?"

Like before, he looks over to Tobi. The boy seems to be rooted to the spot, his eyes fixed on Zetsu's tattoo. He didn't say anything as Zetsu continued to stare at him, and after a few seconds, the green haired boy sighed.

"Doesn't matter.."

I blink. Before, Zetsu had been furious, his tone stony and full of anger. Now it seemed.. Well.. Depressed. Even his eyes seemed to have lost their usual lamp-like glow. Itachi's noticed this too, because he looks concerned.

"You okay Zetsu?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, I'm gonna head off now.. See ya later.."

And with that, he wrenched his arm out of mine and Itachi's hold, and walked off out of the gates. Itachi and I stared after his slowly disappearing back, highly confused. What had just happened? Why had Zetsu's mood changed like that? What did that tattoo mean? Everything Zetsu did, it had a reason. He tried hard in school to prove to his disapproving parents that he was a son worth keeping. He became Tobi's best friend as soon as it became clear the young boy couldn't take care of himself. He didn't like the idea of getting piercings, and I knew for a fact that he was jittery around needles. So why the hell he got a tattoo was beyond me.

Just then, a weird sound interrupts me from my thoughts. A smashing noise.

I whirl around and see Tobi's foot smashing again and again on something on the floor. I spot shards of orange before they disappear beneath his boot and turn to chalky dust. I raise an eyebrow, before Tobi looks up. And I get the shock of my life. The mask is gone. I realise quickly that this was what had been on the floor a few seconds beforehand. But Tobi wasn't anything like I expected him to be. His skin was chalky white due to all the years keeping away from the sun, but his eyes were bright and shiny, crimson in colour. They seemed to glow, like Zetsu's. Raven black hair just like Itachi's fell over his right eye, while the rest of it hung back to near his shoulder blades, fanning out across his back. But the shock didn't end at seeing Tobi's face for the first time in six years. As he turned his eyes up to look at me and Itachi, I saw tears begin to pool within them.

"I gotta go.. I've got a lot of growing up to do.." He mutters, his voice deep yet airy, like he still retained a little of the immaturity.

Then, without another word, he turned and sprinted off the way Zetsu had left. After a few seconds of him vanishing too, I turn back to Itachi. I was pleased to see he looked equally shocked.

"Wow.." Was all I managed. Itachi just nodded, staring wide eyed at the place both boys had disappeared. I cleared my throat, before slipping my hand back into his. He jumped, then grinned as he turned to face me.

"Your place then?"


	13. Forgiveness

~*~ ZETSU'S POV ~*~

I walk quickly away from the school, the silent street echoing my footsteps. I lifted my arm up from my side and stared at the intricately woven lines, particularly the orange and black ones that twirled and danced around the green and yellow. I ran a finger along the symbol, tracing it softly. My mouth curved into a frown, and my brow furrowed. It was painful to look at, as it reminded me so much of the masked teen I loved and adored. Tobi meant the world to me, and I had gone through days of aching _agony_ to prove that to him. But now, because of some over-reactive selfish blond bitch, our special bond may have been severed forever. I loved him with all my heart, but now it seemed as if our dream of staying together forever was starting to slip away. As this heartwrenching thought tore at my chest, I continued to stare at the tattoo, as if it would bring him back. This simple action triggered a memory I held nearest to my heart; our promise.

*~~*

_"Zetsu-san! Hey Zetsu-san!"_

_I look up and a wide smile spreads across my face when I see Tobi running full pelt at me, waving his arm like a lunatic. I opened my arms wide when he reached me, and he leapt into them. I caught him and we held one another close, ignoring the stares of the others around the park. I just loved holding him close, and the feel of his arms around me. It reassured me that someone as pure and innocent as he could love someone who's parents had regarded an ugly freak since birth. _

_After a few minutes spent clinging to him, I pull my head away from his chest, and look deeply into his red iris._

_"How are you today then?" I ask, still smiling. _

_"Tobi was happy thank you Zetsu-san, but now Tobi is even happier because Zetsu-san is with Tobi!" The boy announced with a childish glee. My smile grew. "How is Zetsu-san?"_

_"I'm very, very, very happy now, thanks."_

_I push him down slightly with my hands, and he giggles, lifting the bottom of his mask up for me. I kiss him softly on his lips, and instantly taste lemon. The sour taste makes me cringe, and I pull away quickly. Tobi's smile falters for a second, before he realises the reason I pulled back. He grinned sheepishly, and rubbed the back of his head._

_"Sorry Zetsu-san.. Tobi should have mentioned Tobi had lemon candy before coming out.."_

_I lower him to the ground, then sit and pull him onto my lap. I rest my chin on the top of his head, and wind my arms around his neck. He shuffles as close to me as he can get, and relaxes in my grasp._

_"It's okay." I kiss the top of his head. "I'm getting used to it."_

_"Zetsu-san?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"Can Tobi ask a favour?"_

_"Sure. What is it?"_

_"Well.. Tobi's heard some scary rumours around the school and -"_

_"Listen, if that's anything about me and Ino, it's a load of bull. I can't stand the girl."_

_"Tobi is glad about that!" He giggles, and his tone lightens. "But.. Tobi was wondering.. Would Zetsu-san mind proving to Tobi that Zetsu-san loves Tobi..?"_

_"You mean I don't show it enough?"_

_"No no!! Tobi doesn't mean that at all! Tobi just wants to feel reassured, so that Tobi can tell the bad people spreading the false rumours that it's not true and that Zetsu-san is Tobi's."_

_"Ah.." I smile, then tighten my arms around him, an idea already forming in my mind. "Okay, consider is done."_

_"Really?"_

_"I promise."_

_Tobi giggled again, a sound I loved to hear more than anything, then leant his head back on my shoulder._

_"Tobi loves his Zetsu-san."_

_I beamed._

_"And Zetsu-san loves his Tobi And just wait. By next term you'll be able to see that I do."_

*~~*

Hearing Tobi say the things he did had made my heart melt, and my stomach erupt with butterflies. Because I honestly hadn't ever imagined it would be possible for the two of us to be together. From the moment I met him, I knew I felt differently for him to everyone else, and it scared me because it was so different. But Tobi could make my fear vanish. It had started when we were at the same infant school together. A big gang of the older kids picked on me, calling me a freak and a waste of space, all because of my bizarre appearance. Even the teachers treated me like I was carrying some sort of infectious disease. Not even my parents could accept me for who I truly was, and kept trying to change me. So I became a shell, a ghost of a child, unloved by all. I'd known Tobi since birth, but I had tried to drive him away too. I didn't want to drag him down with me. But he wouldn't leave me alone. He would follow me around like a lost little puppy, and over the years of infant school he taught me to rise above the taunts.

Then came our four years of primary school. I expected his to be an entire new layer of hell, and wouldn't have blamed Tobi if he left me to start up with a gang of new friends he'd made. But he didn't. He refused to be with anyone unless they minded my being there too, and he made sure I never got lonely. As we grew older, I realised my feelings for Tobi were starting to exceed friendship. By our final year of primary school, when he hugged me, I would get butterflies, and spent hours of every day imagining what it would be like to kiss him. When he got his first girlfriend, halfway through that year, I sprialled into decline. I would become moody and snappy, and stop trying in class. It felt as if the girl was taking him away from me, and I hated it. I know it was selfish, but I felt like I deserved someone like him, not her. She'd had a relatively easy life; mine had been nothing but hell. Pretty soon, the school was threatening to expel me. I didn't care. But Tobi did. He found out, and realised I had started acting weird the moment he stopped hanging out with me as much as he used to. He dumped his girlfriend, and spent the next couple of months building me back up again. Ever since then, we were never apart. This made my feelings for him grow so much stronger.

For the first two years of secondary school, we were happy only in one another's company. Every time a girl showed interest in Tobi, he would act differently to make them go off him, because he didn't want to see me destroy myself again. When we were fourteen, we got accepted into the Akatsuki after Pein had seen me beating the crap out of someone in Pein's year, two years above my own. I had only done it because the guy had threatened Tobi. I had seen red, and went ballistic, even resorting to using my strangely sharp teeth to inflict damage. Pein saw, and was impressed. When he offered me a place in Akatsuki, I accepted on the account that Tobi became my partner. When we were fifteen, my feelings for Tobi had grown and developed so far that I was even resorting to recording him going off on a rant with my phone, just so I could listen to his voice when he wasn't around. He was the only one able to calm me. It had taken me fifteen long years to work out that I loved the boy, but the feeling was _incredible_. I could notice tiny, loveable things Tobi would do, and adore them. I would crave his voice, his childish giggle, his laugh, the happy glint in his eye. Then one day, the feelings got too much to control.

We were fifteen years old, and had just been walking home from Christmas shopping. It had been snowing, and Tobi was wittering on about some present he was planning to buy Itachi. I had only been half listening, and was instead focused on the way the snow was sticking to his jagged spikes of coal black hair, or the way some of the ivory flecks landed on the sides of his mask and slid down the sides, leaving a trail of melted water in their wake. I also began to notice things like how much closer he was walking to me; so closely that his gloved hands were brushing against my bare ones with every step. It was because of this that I had been confident enough to test the boundaries, and had just leant across, lifted his mask and kissed him, cutting him off mid-sentence. Tobi had squeaked in surprise and drew back, hand over his mouth. Of course then, I had to blurt out the way I'd been feeling for past few years, and I honestly thought he was going to turn and run. But he didn't. Instead, he beamed at me, threw off his mask and leapt into my surprised arms, whispering in my ear that he felt exactly the same.

But now.. All of that seemed so far away. I should never have got trapped by Ino; she was going to single handedly ruin the best thing that had ever happened to me. I didn't want to lose Tobi. We'd been together for just over a year, and I loved him.. I totally loved him..

I dig the heels of my hands into my eyes.

"I'm such an _idiot_.."

"Damn.. Straight.."

I snapped my head back up and stared in disbelief at the top of the street. Tobi stood there, maskless, panting for breath. A trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face, and his eyes glinted angrily like lamps underneath the blanket of darkness. His fists were clenched by his sides as he sucked in air breathlessly, his shoulders rising and falling as he did so. He glared at me.

"What the fuck.. Were you _thinking_.. Running off.. Like that.."

I'm still so shocked that he followed me, I don't answer him. He doesn't wait though.

"Had me so.. Fucking worried.. You have.. No idea at all.."

Finally I found my voice.

"_You_ were worried about _me_? The betrayer of your trust? The liar? The one who supposedly kissed Ino?!" I had started off speaking, but by the end of my sentence I was screaming. "The one who -"

I'm silenced in shock however as Tobi's head drops, and the next moment, I spot something crystal clear fall. I turned my head to try and get a better view, when he lifted his head back up, and I started in shock. Endless streams of tears were cascading down Tobi's face, and the furious glare that had been heating his eyes had vanished to be replaced with the same lost look I'd always seen in his eyes when we were kids. He wiped the tears on his face away with the sleeve of his t-shirt, but I saw many more sparkling in his eyes, threatening to fall.

"I.. I don't wanna lose you.." He choked, his voice weak and pitiful. "I love you Zetsu.. That's.. That's why I got so angry about Ino.. I'm sorry.. Please don't leave me.." He gulped, then looked me right in the eye, just as a few stray tears fell from the brim of his eyes. "Tobi needs his Zetsu-san.."

All of the anger I'd built up about the whole situation just evaporated into nothingness, and in moments I was holding Tobi tightly in my arms, stroking his hair softly. His head rested in the crook of my neck, and he was shaking. I felt the cold drip of tears sliding down my neck and under the collar of my t-shirt, but I tried not to notice. All that mattered right now was Tobi.

"I'm not going anywhere.. Shh, Tobi, shh.. I love you too, you silly kid.. I promise you, I'll make this up to you.."

Tobi hiccuped, then took his head out from my neck, and stared me right in the eyes. His arms slid around my waist, and held me tightly. I smiled. I had missed being held by him. It brought a familiar spark to my soul, to feel his arms around me. One hand still curled in his hair, I wiped away the remaining tears lingering on his face with the other.

"I'm gonna get Ino back for what she did.." He growled menacingly, eyes hardening.

I bent forward and softly kissed his nose.

"Don't do anythig illegal. Konan and Pein already have enough to deal with, what with keeping the authorities of our backs about Orichimaru, Kabuto and Kimmimaru. Besides, I'm still one hundred per cent yours, Tobi."

He smiled at my words, then leant up on his toes and kissed me. I never knew how magical a moment like this with Tobi could be, but now that I realised how close I came to losing him forever, I would never take another moment for granted. I traced gentle circles on the back of his neck with my index finger, something I knew he loved. As I had expected, this simple action made him cling to me even tighter than before, and kiss me with more feeling. We broke apart moments later, gasping for breath, but still holding one another.

"When.. Are you gonna.. Make this up to me?" Tobi asked as he tried to steady his breathing.

I smirk, then pull him even closer to my body.

"Right now, if we wouldn't get arrested for public indecency."

Tobi smirks back, before slipping his hand into mine.

"Better get ourselves back to yours then."

My fingers tighten around his.

"That is the best damn suggestion I've heard all night."


	14. Run For Your Lives

**THE NEXT DAY**

~*~ NORMAL POV ~*~

"Are you sure this is okay?"

"Yes, it's fine.."

"But.."  
"Deidara ssh, it's okay.."

"But Sasori.."

"Deidara, I can't wait until the end of school.."

"But it's a half.."

However, Deidara never finished his sentence, as his lips were captured by Sasori. He became lost in the boys' kiss, concentrating on the way the redhead was slowly slipping his arms around his waist, or the way his jagged scarlet bangs slipped effortlessly through his fingers. He felt Sasori's tongue sliding along the bottom of his lip, and was about to give him entrance to his mouth, when the classroom door banged open. Instantly, Deidara leapt off the desk he had been perched on, and both boys dived into their seats. They picked up their pens in unison and Deidara fanned his fringe further of his face as he bent over his work, trying to hide his scarlet blush. Sasori smiled at his partner's distressed manner. Anko stood in the doorway, arm outstretched towards the teacher's desk for a bunch of papers she had forgotten, when she spotted her two pupils still sat at their desks, pouring over their History books.

"You boys are still working even though it's only twenty minutes before the end of the school year?" She asked, raising his eyebrow.

Sasori nodded. "Gotta swot up now if I wanna pass my exams next year." He said simply. Deidara, unable to speak, nodded.

Luckily, Anko seemed to take this as perfectly plausible. With a shrug, and a mutter of 'Teenagers', she took what she had come for, then left the room. As the sound of her clicking heels vanished down the hallway, Sasori spun around on his chair to stare hungrily at Deidara once more. The blond looked up from his book, and winked at Sasori. It was too much for the older boy to take, and he almost pushed Deidara right off his seat when he dived to capture his mouth once again.

Once they pulled apart again, Deidara smiled up at his partner.

"Sure are desperate today, _Danna_."

Sasori smirked. Deidara had started calling him 'Danna' since the hospital, after he had saved his life a second time. There had been an awkward moment that previous night. Sasori had just kissed Deidara on the cheek as his lip was cut, when Deidara's father walked in. At first, Sasori expected the man to freak out like he was certain his would, but after Deidara said that he loved the redhead, his father's face split into an ecstatic beaming smile, and he crushed Sasori in a bone breaking hug. After giving him the standard 'Hurt-My-Kid-And-Face-The-Consequences' talk and making sure Sasori swore on his life that he'd never harm one hair on Deidara's head, the man hugged him again and announced that he was an official part of their family. But the way Deidara put emphasis on the title made Sasori want to tackle the boy to the floor; it was almost as if he were teasing him.

Sasori poked Deidara on the bridge of his nose, then kissed him sweetly.

"Only for you, Dei-chan."

Deidara beamed, then tilted his head up and kissed Sasori.

"Good, 'cos I'm not sharing."

*

"HIDAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

The grey haired boy froze, his fist still curled tightly around the dangling first year's shirt, his other balled fist raised. He had been ready to beat the shit out of the kid for calling his religion pathetic, but ceased all movement at once when an angry sounding voice bellowed from the stairway. Slowly, he turned his head over his shoulder and saw with an increasing feeling of dread, Kakuzu storming towards them. He instantly felt his insides turn to mush, a feeling that he was slowly getting used to when he saw his partner. He tried not to let this show on his face however. They had both agreed to keep their relationship hidden, even from their friends. And for him to smile when he saw Kakuzu would definitely be a big step away from ensuring that nobody found out.

"Yeah Kakuzu?" He asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Just what the hell are you doing?"

Hidan looked from Kakuzu's angry face to the boy he was holding a clear few feet above the ground.

"Um.. Nothing?"

"Doesn't look like 'nothing' to me. Maybe I should report this to Tsunade."

"Fuck no, bitch! I was just fucking playing with the kid!"

"Playing? You were gonna hit him!"

"The bastard called Jashin-sama pathetic! I can't let him fucking get away with that!"

"Put him _down_ Hidan."

"And what if I fucking don't? What the fuck are you gonna do about it?"

He smirked. Hidan know exactly what was hidden in that smirk, although to the crowd around them, it probably only meant he would get into trouble. Kakuzu was teasing Hidan, testing him, to see how far he could go. He'd had immense fun teasing Hidan for the entire day; going to kiss him and then pulling away, taunting him in front of other students when he knew he wouldn't be able to react. Kakuzu knew taunting Hidan was like playing with fire; took it too far and you would get burned. But it seemed that he was used to Hidan's intense raging fire, and he was enjoying the burning sensation teasing the dangerous boy brought. The only problem was that he knew at some point, he was going to pay dearly for this. But he was caught in the moment, having too much fun to care.

"I'll leave that to your vivid imagination, Hidan."

The pink eyes became steely slits for a moment, before he carefully put the boy down. He dusted himself, then sprinted away from Hidan as fast as his legs would carry him. The crowd, now sensing a fight between two powerful gang members could be occuring at any moment, departed the hallway rather quickly. As soon as each one was out of sight completely, Hidan marched forward and grabbed Kakuzu by the front of his shirt.

"You are gonna fucking pay for this later, you do realise that don't you?"

Kakuzu smirked and dislodged Hidan's grip before holding the Jashinist against him and biting his lip hard. Hidan's eyes widened in shock as his partner pulled away; Kakuzu had never been so confident before.

"Wouldn't have it any other way, Hidan."

Hidan smiled and looked around, before advancing on Kakuzu and pinning him to the wall. Kakuzu was shocked at first, and tried to pull himself out of Hidan's strong grip, but it was useless. Instead, he tried to talk the boy out of the potentially embarrassing situation they had founds themselves in.

"H..Hidan! Someone could see.."

"There's no-one about. They're all outside, enjoying the fucking sun. Time for payback, _now_, bitch. There's no fucking escape."

Kakuzu sighed, before pulling Hidan's head towards him.

"Fine, but if we get caught, I'm not fucking you from now until December.."

*

"OHMIGOD!"

"HE'S SO CUTE!"

"I KNOW RIGHT?! OH MY GOD, HE'S LOOKING OVER THIS WAY!!!"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP!!"

"OH WOW, LOOK AT THOSE EYES!!"

"AND THAT HAIR!"

"AND THOSE _EYES_!!!"

Shouts like this had followed Tobi around the entire school that day. It was starting to get rather embarrassing for him, and he was beginning to wish he had never stamped his mask to smithereens the previous night. But then, as if sensing his discomfort, Zetsu would slide his arm around Tobi's shoulders, and growl at all the fangirls until they departed. For the first time in his life, Zetsu had also been getting a lot of attention from the girls. He had decided to not be intimidated by his fellow students anymore, and had worn a short sleeved shirt to school, fully showing off his tattoo. He'd spent the entire half day getting asked things like whether it was real, or did it hurt. He would answer these with a simple nod of the head, but when someone asked about the random colour scheme, he had laughed and said 'It symbolises a promise I made with the most important person in the world to me'. At these words, Tobi had flushed bright pink, which caused his new gaggle of fangirls to almost faint from loss of blood due to nosebleeds. In the end, they had had to run for it and hide in the school car park by the main gates. Luckily, thanks to Konan's yearly training session for them that came free with the dance, they were pretty fast on their feet.

After a few minutes of crouching behind a large white van, Tobi poked his head out and looked at the school. He could clearly see a mob of girls outside the main building, looking in all different directions for them. With a quiet sigh, he withdrew his head.

"Well?" Zetsu whispered.

Tobi shook his head.

"Not unless you wanna be mauled."

Zetsu sighed, and rubbed his temples.

"I never thought fangirls were this scary.." He muttered. "Now I understand why Itachi, Sasori, Pein and Deidara hide away most lunch and break times.."

"Me too.. And just imagine what would happen if they saw us kissing or something."

"God, tell me about it.. But.. Now you mention kissing you.." Zetsu muttered silkily, shuffling closer to Tobi, who blushed again.

"Zetsu.. What if they find us..?"

Zetsu cupped the younger boys' chin delicately in his palms.

"Then we'll give them something to stare at.." He whispered softly, pulling Tobi towards him.

The boy smiled before his lips gently met Zetsu's. His smile only grew when he felt Zetsu wrap his arms around his thin body and hold him tight. He loved being held by Zetsu.. Hell, he just loved everything about Zetsu. But being held by him was proably one of the best aspects of being his boyfriend. Tobi just felt so safe and secure in his arms, like the pain and suffering in the rest of the world had gone away, just as long as Zetsu was holding him.

As the kiss began to gain heat, Tobi's heart began to hammer. He would be spending an entire summer with the boy he loved the most, but he knew that at some point, they were going to have to tell their friends. With the exception of Pein and Konan, as they had already accepted Itachi and Kisame, Tobi had no idea of how the others would react. He didn't want to lose his friends, but if it was a choice between them or Zetsu, the lime green haired boy would win hands down. Tobi already knew he couldn't survive without his 'Zetsu-san', and anyone who messed with him got paid back dearly, as Ino was to discover when she woke up tied to the top of the school flag pole.

But that didn't matter at that moment. All that mattered to Tobi was the feel of Zetsu's skin on his, or Zetsu's mouth now exploring the sides of his neck. What mattered was that he and Zetsu stayed together, no matter what.

*

"Itachi is WHAT?!"

"I'm not kidding, I _saw_ them!"

"You gotta be joking!! Please tell me you're joking!!"

"No, seriously!"

"ITACHIII!!!"

The raven haired boy jumped and spun around. Walking towards him were four girls he had seen around the school at one point or another, and he knew for a fact they were all in his fanclub. Behind him, Kisame smiled warmly, knowing he was going to enjoy this. The morning had cause severe disruption when they had both turned up for form, holding hands. By break, they were getting pestered by practically the entire school, asking if they were gay or what. Eventually Kisame had just laughed, then kissed Itachi full on the mouth, right in front of everyone. He wouldn't mind betting that these particular fangirls missed that demonstration, and were now going to their beloved to see if it was really true or not. The thought amused Kisame.

"I..Is it true, Itachi..? A.. A.. Are you and K.. Kisame... Really..?" The girl stammered, bright red in the face and looking anywhere but at Itachi.

Kisame, unable to hold back any longer, burst into fits of silent giggles. He turned away from the group and did his very best to get them under control, but all in vain. Itachi smiled at his partner's behaviour, then turned back to the girls.

"Yeah, it's true."

He found it amusing to watch three identical looks of horror and disappointment ink their way onto three faces, while the last looked smug.

"Told you so."

"W..Well.. I'm not gonna give up on you, Itachi!!" The first girl screamed, going even redder.

Kisame recovered from his fit of laughter, and curled both arms around Itachi's neck protectively, resting his head on the boy's shoulder and planting a small kiss on his ivory white neck.

"You'll have to fight me for him." He laughed, looking at the tiny girls. Each looked terrified at the thought. Then, their ringleader gulped, and took a step closer.

"W..When I'm stronger, K.. K.. Kisame-san!!" She yelled, then turned and ran. Her friends gave the couple one more scared look, before following her.

"Looks like I have competition, huh?" Kisame muttered softly in Itachi's ear.

"No. No-one could replace you, Kisame." Itachi murmered back.

Kisame grinned, and nuzzled against Itachi's neck.

"I love you. I really, really do."

Itachi smiled one of his rare smiles, and gripped both of Kisame's hands tightly.

"I love you too, Kisame."

*

"Konan, come ooon.. It's the end of the year.. I don't wanna be stuck working.." Pein grumbled, following the girl. She turned around, a steely glint in her eye.

"We're the Head Boy and Head Girl! It's our duty to help the school!"

"But I'm tired.. Beating up shitheads is tiring.."

Konan flapped her hands. "Ssh! Not so loud!!"

"Sorry, sorry.."

"Now come _on_! And stop complaining!"

Pein rolled his eyes as soon as Konan's back was turned. Sure, she was rather annoying at times, overprotective, bossy and quick tempered, but he still loved her like a sister. And he had to admit, without her, he'd probably be a very fucked up kid, instead of someone people looked up to. In a way, he owed her his life. Her house was a safe haven to turn to when things got rough at home when he had been a lot younger, and her mother had taken him in when both of his parents died in their car accident. But there were still times where she could annoy him, and making him run around on errands for the school reception on the last day of term, half an hour before they'd be free for six weeks was one of those times.

Pein entered the reception with a sense of dread, but the receptionist, Shizune, quickly lifted his spirts by wishing him and Konan a cheerful good afternoon. Konan practically beamed as she swept right over to Shizune, who was sat behind the large desk. With a quiet sigh followed a snigger, Pein followed and stood directly behind his best friend. Instead of focusing on the conversation between the two women before him, Pein studied the five screens stuck on the wall behind Shizune. He knew that each screen was connnected to the images produced by several cameras each dotted about the entire school, so that the reception could be alerted of trouble almost instantly.

"Hi! Me and Pein were wondering whether you needed anything done before school ended. I know it's a bit hectic right now, so yeah.." Konan said, her voice bouncy and light.

"Oh, that's very kind of you! I'll just go and ask Tsunade, you two wait right here."

Shizune then stood, and bustled out from behind the desk, disappearing behind a door at the back of the room which led to Tsunade's office. Konan turned to face Pein, still smiling.

"See? They're grateful!"

"I'd still prefer to be outside to be honest, Konan.."

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes at him. She didn't understand why he would prefer to be lazing about when they could be helping the school sort out its problems. Then again, she realised, he had always been the lazy type. She continued to stare at him, looking over his shoulder every now and then to check if Shizune was coming back. When she looked back after the third time of doing this, she jumped. Pein's grey eyes were wide and staring, and his jaw had dropped. His entire face seemed to have paled, and it looked as if he was shaking.

"Um.. Pein..? You okay..?" Konan asked, raising an eyebrow in concern.

Instead of speaking, he raised a shaking hand and pointed at something.

"What? What's up?"

Still pointing at something just behind her, Pein managed to talk this time. However, he was in too much shock to be able to form the words properly, so all that came out of his mouth was gibberish. He saw Konan begin to get annoyed with him not making sense, so he tried to nod over her shoulder to emphasise his point. When she still failed to understand, and he spotted the icy glint in her eyes once more, he reached forwards, grabbed the sides of her face, and forcefully turned her head around. There was no way Konan could have prepared herself for what she saw, but she instantly understood Pein's reaction. One of the screens was showing the car park, while another flitted between four classrooms, and the last on five seperate hallways. Clearly visible in each time a certain hallway, classroom or car park camera angle was shown all of their fellow Akatsuki members, apart from Itachi and Kisame, kissing.

Konan's jaw dropped, and she slowly turned back to Pein, a massive grin lacing her lips.

"W..What?" He asked, still taken-aback from what he had seen.

"My plan finally worked! Now, just wait here a second, I'll be right back!!"

"Wait! Where the hell are you going?!"

But Konan only smiled, and pointed back to the screens. Witholding a sigh, Pein leant back on the wall on the far side of the reception opposite the screens, and watched. He looked around then pulled out his mobile, before dialling Sasori, Hidan and Zetsu all at the same time. The boys picked up after about the first ring, and spoke almost silently.

"Hello?"

"What's up Pein?

"What the fuck is going on?"

"Listen guys, I don't have long to explain. You've all been caught on the school camera system, and Konan's seen. I think she's coming to get you for keeping this hidden."

"Oh shit.." Sasori.

"What the fuck are we gonna do?!" Hidan.

"Oh joy.." Zetsu.

"Well I have a suggestion." Pein grinned as he heard footsteps down Kakuzu's line. "Run for your fucking lives."


End file.
